News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 30 August, 2011
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Prisons act reform proposal rejected by Home Minister
Burmese expanding in Kachin state
Myanmar folk wary of 'democracy' pledges
Naypyidaw to Host Political Forum
Burma at a crossroad: to ponder ethnic proposal for peace-talks
Farmers Take Land Seizure Cases to Parliament Don’t Leave Ethnics Out of 'Win-Win' Deal
Myanmar sentences ex-army captain to 10 years for sending information
Myanmar jails man for 10 years for web article
Timor-Leste Weighs Up Asean Membership
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Prisons act reform proposal rejected by Home Minister
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 30 August 2011
A proposal submitted to the People’s Parliament by Thingangyun township MP, Thein Nyunt, to reform the Prison’s act, has been rejected by the speaker of the house because the speaker said the Home Ministry was already drafting a revised Prisons Act.
While no discussion of an amnesty has taken place, despite reports to the contrary in the state mouth piece the New Light of Myanmar.
The Prisons Act proposal by Thein Nyunt intended; “to provide necessary arrangements for drafting a bill of the Prisons Act, which is agreeable to the 21st century and guarantee human dignity and to introduce the bill to the third regular session of the first Pyithu Hluttaw”.
Pe Than, People’s Parliament representative of Arakan State’s Myebon township told DVB that;
“There were six non-USDP representatives who discussed in favour of [Thein Nyunt’s proposal] and three USDP representatives argued against it. The Home Affairs minister said his ministry was already preparing to submit the bill in the parliament and the [parliament] speaker decided to only keep a record of U Thein Nyunt’s proposal without giving him a chance to argue back,” said Pe Than.
Whilst on Home Affairs Minister, Lieutenant General Ko Ko’s discussion on the bill, Pe Than added that;
“It is not yet revealed which sections [of the prisons act] will be changed – he just spoke generally and said that there have been preparations to change some, if not all, sections in the law regarding the worst situations such as issues with food, accommodation, solitary confinement, transferring of inmates to remote prisons, inmates not being allowed to get medical assistance or to read books and newspapers, non-judicial punishment by prison officials.”
There will be concern that the Prisons Act revision by the Home Ministry will therefore not carry the necessary legislation that prevents torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners as critics and former inmates allege is routine in Burma’s prison system.
Thein Nyunt said: “We have to shine a spotlight and ensure, when the parliament discusses this new prisons act, that it is in accordance with the article 44 of the constitution, that; No penalty shall be prescribed that violates human dignity and also the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, that states that; No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
A question regarding prison laws was also raised in the National Parliament yesterday where regional judges are to continue to submit prison reports to the Union Supreme Court as provided in the 1962 Prisons Act.
Upholding any law, debated in parliament or not, will continue to be problematic with the rule of law seemingly ignored as trials take place behind closed doors and with judges like the vast majority of MPs are appointees of the military, and seriously lacking in autonomy. http://www.dvb.no/news/17351/17351
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Burmese expanding in Kachin state
By NAY THWIN
Published: 30 August 2011
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have claimed that the Burmese Army are sending new units into Kachin State’s Bhamo district while small clashes continue to occur throughout the region, said the KIA’s joint-secretary La Nan.
“The Burmese Army are increasing movements in the region with more troops being shipped from the lower-Burma region. Our soldiers at the frontline couldn’t identify which army units they were from but apparently they have sunflower insignia on their badges. That insignia doesn’t belong to the [Burmese Army] Northern Regional Military Command,” said La Nan.
“They were shipped into the region through the rivers and are becoming increasingly active in Bhamo District’s Momauk township.”
The sun flower insignia is believed to belong to the Eastern Regional Command based in Southern Shan State. It reportedly contains around 42 infantry battalions. While the Bhamo District is situated in southern Kachin state and is traversed by the main Mandalay-Myitkina highway, NH 31.
La Nan added that a clash took place between the KIA’s troops and a Burmese Army column in Momauk last Sunday;
“The fight took place when a Burmese Army column ran into our troops – they were about 100-200 strong, increased from usual troop number of around 50-60 in the past.”
Fighting between the KIA and the Burmese Army began in June this year after the KIA refused to assimilate into a Border Guard Force unit under the Burmese army. Clashes have been almost daily ever since, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
A local in Myitkyina said Kachin State’s Minister Lajun Ngum Sai in an public assembly on 27 August blamed the KIA for the armed conflict with the Burmese Army in the region;
“He said the KIA burnt down houses and that it was inappropriate – he seemed to want to imply that the KIA is not willing to negotiate despite the government giving them chances and favours to do so,” said the Myitkyina resident.
La Nan said the 20 houses burnt down mentioned by the minister were actually barracks in a Burmese Army camp and that the KIA were examining the relevant details.
In a press conference in Naypyidaw on 12 August, government spokesperson Kyaw Hsan blamed the KIA for breaking ceasefire agreements.
In response to this, the KIA accused the government of not holding a wish to solve political problems via political means.
The KIA and the Burmese had a cease fire in existence since 1994, which came to an end in June. The cease fire was smoothed over by the KIO ceding control of the lucrative jade mines in towns like Hpakant; reputedly home to the finest jade on earth. http://www.dvb.no/news/burmese-expanding-in-kachin-state/17341
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Myanmar folk wary of 'democracy' pledges
2011/08/30
FIVE months after a nominally civilian government took power in Myanmar, the country is awash in uncertainty about who is really in charge.
Workers have taken down the once-ubiquitous portraits of Senior Gen Than Shwe, the dictator who ran the country for nearly two decades, from the walls of government offices. But rumours circulate in Yangon that Than Shwe, who stepped down in March, still has the final word on important decisions.
An impoverished population, downtrodden by years of military rule, is parsing a raft of initiatives by the new government and trying to understand whether the country's transition from military dictatorship to what the state news media describe as "discipline flourishing democracy" is real.
Like the biblical Thomas, they seem to want more proof.
"As far as I can see, there has been no change," said U San Shwe, a retired civil servant whose comments typify the scepticism heard frequently in Myanmar.
"The new government consists of former generals who have habits that they can't break. They are accustomed to taking bribes, mistreating people and making a lot of money from their positions. They confiscate things, and no one can complain."
Trying to guess the direction of this country has, in the past, been a fool's errand. Myanmar has zigzagged from paranoid isolation under decades of military rule to flirtations with openness. The country seems propelled by the competing impulses of conservatives and reformers within the military.
In recent weeks there have been signs that reformers, led by Thein Sein, a former general who was elected president in February, have the upper hand.
The government has proposed peace talks with armed rebel groups that are battling the military for control over resources and for more autonomy. Officials have met three times in the last month with Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's leading dissident, who was released from house arrest in November.
Other changes have been more symbolic. The state-run newspapers are taking a lighter approach in their propaganda, refraining from publishing slogans like "Riots beget riots, not democracy". The government has also allowed publications that do not deal with politics or history to publish without prior censorship. (Any newspaper articles that touch on politics must still be submitted to a censorship board, which routinely slashes writing deemed negative about the government.)
The bar for freedom of expression is set so low here that journalists rejoiced when it was announced that they would be allowed into Parliament for its current session, which began on Monday.
Amid the tumult of transition, some economic changes have been very substantive. But their benefits to ordinary citizens remain unclear. A major privatisation programme initiated last year is transforming an economy that was so heavily controlled by the state that it could have been designed by Lenin himself.
Scores of state-owned factories, government buildings and companies have been sold off. The local currency, the kyat, has soared in value against the dollar -- in part, analysts believe, because money has poured into the country to pay for assets in the government's fire sale. The transactions were done without public tender, and most assets were sold to a handful of government favourites.
"There are great opportunities -- but only for the cronies. It's like Russia," said U Soe Than, the owner of a shop for cellphones and digital music players imported from China.
Whether an economy controlled by an oligopoly of cronies is better than the state-run system is a point of debate among analysts of the country. Similarly tainted privatisation campaigns in the Middle East created deep resentments that a decade or so later helped fuel revolts this year in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. Yet poor economic prospects have been as debilitating for the citizens of Myanmar as political repression -- if not more.
There have been some signs of economic revival: the number of tourists visiting the country was up 23 per cent in the first half of this year, and hotels in Yangon brim with business travellers, many of them from China, Japan and South Korea.
Last week, The New Light of Myanmar, a state-owned newspaper, highlighted a meeting between government officials and executives from Caterpillar, the giant producer of construction and mining equipment that is based in the United States.
US and European sanctions have made it difficult for many multinational companies to operate in Myanmar, but the government appears to be working vigorously to get the measures lifted. Officials from the International Monetary Fund have been invited for meetings in October to discuss further economic liberalisation.
And the government has started a charm offensive with Suu Kyi, who has great leverage on the issue of sanctions. Recently, the government invited her for the first time to the capital, where she met with Thein Sein, the president.
As an Oxford-educated 1991 Nobel Peace laureate and the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero, Aung San, she is perhaps the premier interlocutor between Myanmar and the outside world.
She has not fully enunciated her goals since her release from house arrest, but those who have watched her closely believe that she has aspirations well beyond being a mere symbol of national unity.
"I always thought that her ambitions were higher than a 'mother' figure," said Josef Silverstein, a Myanmar specialist and professor emeritus at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Whether a long-elusive reconciliation between Suu Kyi and the former generals is possible remains a question hanging over the country's future.
Yet, the political situation is only one part of the enormous challenge facing Myanmar's 55 million people.
The decades of military rule and the generals' single-minded obsession with political survival have left the country's health and education systems a shambles.
A generation of students had been forgotten, said U Thiha, who runs a computer programming school in Yangon. He has been frustrated in his search for the best young minds for courses on web programming.
"My students were not well trained at university," he said. "They don't have enough knowledge. They are not eager. And over the past 20 years, there have been no activities to test and challenge them." -- NYT
Read more: Myanmar folk wary of 'democracy' pledges http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/24democ/Article/#ixzz1WX03wDQe
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Naypyidaw to Host Political Forum
By WAI MOE Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Burmese government is to hold a political forum in Naypyidaw in the coming months following the media success of its economic development workshop in August which was attended by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Nay Zin Latt, a political advisor to President Thein Sein, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the presidential office is planning a political forum, though he declined to say if a specific dated had been fixed for the event.
“Plans to organize national level fora are on our agenda,” he said. “A political forum is likely in the near future. But I don’t know when it will take place nor how it will be comprised.”
Political parties and politicians including Suu Kyi, as well as activists and scholars in exile, are expected to be invited to the forum, which political sources in Rangoon said could be in November.
“If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is invited to the political forum, I think that she should return to Naypyidaw and cooperate with the government for the sake of the people of Burma,” said Win Tin, one of Suu Kyi’s aides and a prominent member of her party, the National League for Democracy.
However, it is uncertain whether representatives of ethnic armed groups will be invited to Naypyidaw nor whether any political prisoners will be released and allowed to participate in the forum.
“There must be an environment for a meaningful political forum—2,000-plus political prisoners must be released and a ceasefire has to enacted across the country,” said Naing Aung, a political figure in exile and the general secretary of the Forum for Democracy in Burma.
“The government must avoid suppressing and arresting people under state emergency acts such as 5-J,” he added. “In addition, [88 Generation Students group leaders] Ko Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi should have the right to participate at the forum.”
On August 19-21, the regime held an economic development forum in Naypyidaw’s International Convention Center. Suu Kyi was invited as a special guest by Thein Sein, and she made her first visit to the new capital where she had talks with the president and other government ministers.
The Irrawaddy's Lin Thant contributed to this report. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21987
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Burma at a crossroad: to ponder ethnic proposal for peace-talks
By Zin Linn Aug 30, 2011 10:51PM UTC
Col Sai Htoo, Assistant Secretary General of the Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), said the government’s 18-August peace talks call did not reveal any information concerning preliminary programs at all. At least, he said, it should be focused on clearing the political atmosphere before any meaningful talks set off, according to Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.).
“President Thein Sein should first create an environment conducive to friendly negotiations,” he told SHAN on Tuesday morning. According to him, it is important to release of political prisoners, to start pulling out of troops from the conflict zones and to declare a nationwide ceasefire announcement which will greatly brighten up the atmosphere.
However, at the meeting with Union Chief Justice Tun Tun Oo, Mr Quintana ( UN Human Envoy) put some questions on prisoners serving terms for their beliefs, amending existing laws to meet international norms, and formation and functions of the Constitutional Tribunal. The Union chief justice said that in Myanmar (Burma) there is no prisoner serving a term for his belief, and prisoners are all serving their terms for the crimes they have committed. He also added that courts have powers to hand down sentences in the framework of the prescribed laws, and the accused have the right to argue in line with the law under the current 2008 constitution, as said by the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Col Sai Htoo believes the 1947 Panglong Agreement that guarantees total autonomy, democracy and human rights for the states should be common ground on which peace talks should be conducted, and not the 2008 constitution “forcibly” drafted and ratified by the previous military junta.
According to Col Sai Htoo, there are reasons with the government offering the peace talks. His rationales are as follow. (1) There is a conflict between Thein Sein government and the armed forces. (2) There is another conflict inside Thein Sein cabinet notably between President Thein Sein and his first-vice president Tin Aung Myint Oo. (3) Disciplinary problems are arising out of the Army’s inability to provide food, clothes and supplies for its troops and their families. (4) The government armed forces have suffered heavy casualties in the war in Kachin, Karen and Shan states. (5) The government hopes to break sanctions imposed by the Western bloc. (6) The government has an ambitious plan to chair the 10 member ASEAN in 2014.
Even though, the government’s “Invitation to peace talks” says that any armed group wishing to hold negotiations must contact the state government first individually in order to start preliminary discussion. After completion of which, the government will form a team for peace talks.
On the other hand, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) also dismissed the government’s 18-August peace-talk offer. It was sacked by the KIO and the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) since the government uses just two-pronged meeting which in fact is a divide-and rule policy towards ethnic groups devoid of the Panglong Agreement. Talks between the KIO and the Burmese government were also failed in 1963, 1972, and 1980 respectively; they all botched to address the political face-off between the two sides.
Currently, KIO declared that it will talk through the ethnic alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), maintaining the values of the Panglong Agreement.
The SSA has been combating against the Burma armed forces to gain self-determination for decades. Burma Army and SSA reached a ceasefire deal in 1989. However, after 22 year of armistice promise, the ceasefire broken down due to Burma Army’s offensive on 13 March this year. The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) is a member of the newly formed United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) as well and it holds that any meaningful negotiations with Burmese government must be with the UNFC and not one by one bilateral -talk, a provision set by President Thein Sein’s government.
If the government failed honoring the political ambition of ethnic people, it will be pointless to end political and civil conflict all over ethnic states. As a result, if the Burmese authorities neglected the opinion of the ethnic rebel-alliance, the critics may say that the current government is not heading toward a democratic system; instead it is challenging to pay no attention to the ethnic people’s self-determination.
Hence, the government has to review its policy on peace-talks vis-à-vis the rebel-alliance’s proposal. http://asiancorrespondent.com/63804/burma-at-a-crossroad-to-ponder-ethnic-proposal-for-peace-talks/
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Farmers Take Land Seizure Cases to Parliament
By KO HTWE Tuesday, August 30, 2011
“I feel sad when our fields have been changed into a lake for the purpose of breeding fish. Since that happened, I became a worker in another field,” said Aye Thein. The 64-year-old was forced to abandon his eight acres of land in 1999 after it was confiscated by the Myanmar Billion Group company in Audsu village of Nyaungdon Township, Irrawaddy Division.
Aye Thein is one of many victims in Burma where land seizures take place commonly through three different ways: seizures by the military commander-in-chief of the region, by private companies or by financiers who are allegedly backed by the Burmese Army.
Aye Thein, and others in the area who lost nearly 63 acres of land between them, fruitlessly complained to the township and district authorities three times about their land confiscation.
Confiscated land taken by the Burmese authorities and distributed to private companies includes approximately 10,000 acres in Rangoon Division, nearly 5,000 acres in Irrawaddy Division, 1,338 acres in Kachin State, 600 acres in Mon State and 500 acres in Maymyo in Mandalay Division. The affected farmers have filed lawsuits but no action has been taken.
The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) recently released a report that claimed around 20,000 acres have been seized over the past 10 years by the Burmese military in Mon and Karen states as well as Tenasserim Division.
The Yuzana Company was granted 200,000 acres in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in 2006 to establish tapioca and sugarcane plantations, and some 600 farmers were evicted from their lands without full compensation. They were eventually displaced to areas far from their original homes.
After cultivating the area for nearly two years, the company left the land and had it transferred back to a financier backed by the Burmese authorities. The area is now being changed into a lake for producing fish.
According to the local-based Activity for Free Developing Society Community organization, the rightful owners of 63 out of a total of 200 acres in Nyaungdon Township sent letters on Thursday to the chief minister of Irrawaddy Division and President Thein Sein demanding the end of land confiscation.
“Tax receipts and sending [rice crops] to the government are our evidence that proves that we are the rightful owners of the land. Now the government has announced that we can complain about unfair cases so I brought up our land seizure case with the help of the group,” said Aye Thein.
In his inaugural address to the Union Parliament, President Thein Sein said they are determined to improve the living conditions of farmers and workers and would update laws to safeguard the rights of peasants.
“By changing the law, the lives of farmers will be secure and they will have the chance to cultivate their own land. Farmers are not currently covered by peasant law. The 1963 Safeguarding Peasants' Rights Law is not up-to-date with the current time,” said Pho Phyu, a lawyer who has previously represented Rangoon and Irrawaddy farmers in land seizure cases.
On Monday, accompanied with 22 farmers from Rangoon, Pho Phyu went to the Naypidaw offices of Burma's president and Parliament with letters that drew attention to land confiscation cases, fishermen affairs and social issues. They urged the government to amend laws that can secure the livelihoods of farmers and workers.
“The [president and Parliament office] accepted out letters and will send our proposals to the respective officials,” said Phyo Phyu. He added that they were representing farmers from seven villages who have been lost 10,000 acres around Rangoon.
Due to corruption of the judiciary and slow management practices, much farmland has fallen into the hands of financiers, and village authorities have forced farmers to change their names which were written on proposals, added Phyo Phyu.
“I can't stand these confiscation cases and we are hoping that the government will reply. President Thein Sein once instructed a company to cooperate with farmers, but on the ground these companies give very little compensation and just 'shoo' the farmer away,” said Myint Aung from Naypyidaw, whose land has been confiscated in Dagon Seikkan Township of Rangoon.
Even today, farmers in Burma have no right to form a peasants' union to protect against government land confiscation and other intrusions on their rights.
“Our lives depend on the field so I became a porter after my land was seized. When I saw our paddy fields being happily worked by others it made me feel sad because we have no place to earn,” said San Win, who lost eight acres in Nyaungdon Township. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21984
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NEWS ANALYSIS
Don’t Leave Ethnics Out of 'Win-Win' Deal
By SAW YAN NAING Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Change is said to be underway in Burma, as the country's rulers appear to be relaxing their grip on the democratic opposition and taking a more conciliatory approach to their international critics. President Thein Sein has met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw, and the UN human rights envoy to Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, recently concluded a rare visit to the country. Thein Sein has also reached out to exiles, urging them to return home, and Burma's state-run media has stopped its ritual denunciation of the BBC, VOA and RFA.
So far, much of the discussion about these developments has focused on whether they really amount to anything. Clearly, in themselves, they are a far cry from the breakthrough that the people of Burma, and the world, have been waiting decades to witness. But already, there are some in the country who worry that they are in danger of being written out of this “history in the making”—if that's what it is.
For Burma's ethnic peoples, recent hints of a possible detente between the Naypyidaw-centered, military-backed government and the Rangoon-centered democratic opposition are cause for concern. Historically, ethnic minorities, who make up about a third of the population, have been marginalized by Burmese politics. Still struggling for their survival and their right to self-determination, they now worry that any “peace” achieved in the Burmese heartland may never extend as far as their own homelands.
While some prominent exiles consider returning to test the waters and people speak hopefully of a new era of cooperation between the government and opposition groups in the fields of social and economic development, the outlook for Burma's ethnic minorities remains utterly devoid of optimism.
Since Thein Sein assumed power earlier this year, tensions that have been mounting since last year over the refusal of armed ceasefire groups to form “border guard forces” under Burmese military command have come to a head in Shan and Kachin states. Burmese offensives in areas under the control of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Shan State Army (SSA) have forced thousands of civilians to flee.
This depressingly familiar situation—for the past two decades, more than 140,000 war refugees have huddled in crowded camps on the Thai-Burmese border, and tens of thousands more have been forced to hide in the jungles inside Burma—has attracted remarkably little international attention, as all eyes now focus on events in the country's centers of power.
Over the years, ethnic civilians have suffered countless atrocities at the hands of Burmese troops, including forced labor, rape, torture and murder. To some extent, this situation was mitigated by the ceasefire agreements that were reached in the 1990s between the Burmese army and an array of armed groups—the KIA, the SSA-North, the United Wa State Army, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, the New Mon State Party, and others—but at no point have Burma's ethnic peoples enjoyed real peace and security.
Now that most of these ceasefire agreements have collapsed, the ethnic armies have demanded a withdrawal of government troops from their areas and new talks, this time involving an alliance of ethnic forces and leading to a nationwide ceasefire. Preferring to stick to the “divide and rule” tactics of the past, however, the government continues to push for one-on-one negotiations with individual groups.
It is deeply distressing for Burma's ethnic peoples to think that their future may look very much like their past, no matter what happens as the country's rulers move to co-opt the opposition.
As Moo Kay Paw, a Karen girl living in hiding in the jungle, put it with tears in her eyes: “I don’t understand my life sometimes. I ask myself why I was born to live in fear like this. We can be killed at any time, like animals. Why can’t we live with dignity, like human beings?” http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21988
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The Straits Times
Myanmar jails man for 10 years for web article
Published on Aug 30, 2011
YANGON (AFP) - A court in military-dominated Myanmar has sentenced a retired major to a decade in prison for writing an article deemed subversive and distributing it to overseas media, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
Nay Myo Zin, 36, was arrested in April, accused of harming national security, the rule of law, peace and stability and national unity with his article on reforming Myanmar's military and dictatorship.
He was accused of sending the article by email to pro-democracy activists and media-in-exile, such as the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB).
The article is believed to have been published on the Internet. http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_707553.html
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The Washington Post
Myanmar sentences ex-army captain to 10 years for sending information to dissident groups
By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, August 30, 1:13 PM
YANGON, Myanmar — A special court inside Myanmar’s Insein prison has sentenced an ex-army captain to 10 years imprisonment for writing and sending critical articles to the Democratic Voice of Burma and other dissident groups.
Lawyer Hla Myo Myint says 35-year-old Nay Myo Zin was sentenced last Friday in a closed-door trial. He was found guilty of violating the Electronics Act and tarnishing the army’s image.
Zin was arrested last April at his Yangon internet cafe.
Hla Myo Myint said Monday the arrest without a warrant and mental torture of his client were violations of his human rights.
He says Myanmar’s judiciary is still not independent and there is no rule of law although the nominally civilian government that took office in March claims to be reforming the system.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/myanmar-sentences-ex-army-captain-to-10-years-for-sending-information-to-dissident-groups/2011/08/30/gIQAhwPuoJ_story.html
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Timor-Leste Weighs Up Asean Membership
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Tuesday, August 30, 2011
DILI —Across the city, banners and posters signal the new country's increasing integration with the world outside, heralding events such as Timor-Leste's hosting of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) regional conference on Aug. 25-27.
Timor-Leste was designated the first Asian country to match up to EITI standards on accountability in and management of its energy resources. According to World Bank Managing Director and former Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, speaking at the EITI event, “Timor-Leste, as a nation, is building strength and economic resilience and has demonstrated how much can be won in a short space of time.”
The EITI is a voluntary mechanism, usually backed by member countries passing relevant laws. It claims it “supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.”
The plaudits from EITI and the World Bank are a notable achievement for East Timor, which as recently as 2006 teetered on the brink of civil war. However, concerns remain about corruption among the country's politicians and officials, with public displays of ostentation such as newly acquired expensive cars and big houses seemingly stoking resentment among ordinary Timorese, for whom the country's energy-based economy is almost an abstraction.
“People ask, how can a civil servant who earns US $500 a month afford to buy his son or daughter a brand new SUV?” said Rogerio Lobato, a former Interior Minister convicted of gun-running during Timor-Leste's 2006 crisis, when 10 percent of the population was driven from their homes as security force factions fought on the streets. Lobato says he intends to run for president in the 2012 elections in Timor-Leste.
For the country's political leaders membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is a key foreign policy goal, superseding membership of or achievements within other international or regional organisations such as EITI.
President Jose Ramos-Horta banged the drum for his country's accession in an article published in May as the the most recent Asean summit in Jakarta, the capital of Timor-Leste's former occupier Indonesia, weighed-up Dili's request to join the bloc.
Ramos-Horta pointed out that his country outranks Asean members Burma, Cambodia and Laos in the latest United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI), a league table that lists countries by what the UNDP deems as “a development paradigm that is about much more than the rise or fall of national incomes.”
The president said that Timor-Leste's GNP per capita “increased 228 per cent” over 2005-10 “to more than $5,000.” The country's economy is growing rapidly, as recent 10 percent per annum expansion figures show, but this is down to energy revenues coming online and government spending on the back of the largesse.
However, non-oil/gas income per head is thought to be less than $400 per person, and is a much more accurate reflection of poverty levels in Timor-Leste, where unemployment is high—reaching 40 percent among among urban youth. Migration to Dili threatens to see Port Moresby-type slums emerge on the city's edges, where a deeply rooted gang culture lives on, and a controversial and tricky land law could see many of Dili's residents be deemed squatters—and therefore vulnerable to eviction at any time—by the government.
However, similar challenges are present—to greater or lesser degrees—in some Asean member states, and to Timor-Leste's allies inside the bloc, this should not automatically disqualify the aspiring new member. In May, current Asean chair Indonesia recommended that Dili's accession request be given “urgent attention” by the nine other Asean members. Singapore has been the sole Asean member to publicly question Timor-Leste's accession, saying that the former Portuguese colony, host to a long-standing UN mission and international peacekeeping force, is not yet ready to take on the bureaucratic workload that Asean membership requires.
There is broad agreement between the current Government in Dili—a multi-party coalition led by former anti-Indonesian resistance leader Xanana Gusmao—and the main opposition party Fretilin. Party spokesman and Fretilin MP Jose Teixeira told The Irrawaddy his party sought membership of Asean as far back as 1974, when Portugal ended its colonial rule.“We want everyone to know it is a bipartisan policy,” he said.
However, some in Timor-Leste agree with the Singapore line that it is too soon for Timor-Leste to join the 10-member Southeast Asian bloc, which aims to establish an 'Asean Economic Community' by 2015.
Lao Hamutuk, a Dili-based NGO that monitors political and economic developments in Timor-Leste, said it believes that Asean membership would swamp the import-dependent Timorese economy and hinder the development of the non-oil/gas economy. The sector employs only a handful of Timorese but accounts for over 90 percent of the state budget, amid ongoing mass joblessness and what LH researcher Juvinal Dias describes as “almost no local production.”
He adds: “We cannot yet compete with other countries in economy or agriculture.”
Part of Singapore's argument against Timor-Leste joining Asean sooner rather than later is historical—with some misgivings lingering over the accession of Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in 1997. Timor-Leste argues that it is in better shape to join than any of this four were at that time, pointing not only to the UNDP data, but to its far better democratic credentials.
However, Timor-Leste's eventual accession to Asean may not be as productive as supporters of the move hope, or as damaging as opponents fear, if precedent elsewhere is anything to go by.
Sean Turnell, an academic at Macquarie University in Australia, and founder of Burma Economic Watch, said, “Asean has had very little effect, I would say, on Burma's economy—i.e., in the sense of changing any patterns in investment, trade, etc. These are all driven by much more fundamental forces than bureaucratic structures, but instead on the availability of resources, at the right price, and so on. In other words, Thailand does not buy Burma's gas just because they are both members of Asean.” http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21983
__._,_.___
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
News & Articles on Burma -Tuesday, 30 August, 2011-UZL
Sunday, August 28, 2011
News & Articles on Burma -Saturday, 27 August, 2011-UZL
News & Articles on Burma
Saturday, 27 August, 2011
--------------------------------
Burma MPs propose prisoner amnesty: state media
Will Burma really listen to the UN Rights Envoy?
Survival instinct steers Myanmar generals towards reform
Myanmar MPs propose prisoner amnesty: state media
Myanmar MPs propose prisoner amnesty: State media
Myanmar OKS Setting Up Of New Political Party
Burmese military agents plant a powerful bomb in Kachin quarter
--------------------------------------
Bangkok Post
Burma MPs propose prisoner amnesty: state media
Published: 27/08/2011 at 03:32 PM
Online news: Asia
Members of Burma's army-dominated parliament have called for a sweeping jail amnesty, state media reported Saturday, after a UN envoy called for the release of prisoners of conscience.
A general view of Myanmar's parliament in Naypyidaw. Members of Myanmar's army-dominated parliament have called for a sweeping jail amnesty, state media reported Saturday, after a UN envoy called for the release of prisoners of conscience.
A proposal for a general amnesty was raised in the lower house on Friday, the New Light of Burma reported.
"They firmly hope that the president would make (an) assessment and release an order of amnesty," the newspaper said, without giving further details on who would be included.
The plight of around 2,000 political prisoners, many of whom are serving double-digit jail terms, is a key concern of the international community, along with other human rights abuses and democratic reforms.
It is the first time that serving military members of parliament have taken part in a discussion of a general amnesty since a nominally civilian government took over in March. A quarter of seats are reserved for the army.
The regime, which came to power after controversial November elections, appears keen to improve its image and recently held the first talks between democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein, a former general.
But the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said serious concerns remained as he concluded a visit to the country on Thursday.
The UN envoy, who visited Rangoon's notorious Insein jail during his five day trip, voiced fears over allegations of torture during detention and the use of prisoners as porters for the military.
"Of key concern to me and the international community is the continuing detention of a large number of prisoners of conscience," Quintana said.
In a move that rights groups said was woefully insufficient, Burma reduced all current jail sentences by one year in May and commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment.
Amnesty International said that political detainees are imprisoned using vague laws that criminalise peaceful political activists. They are held in poor conditions and moved to jails far from their homes and families.
Opposition leader Suu Kyi was freed from seven years of house arrest in November shortly after the election, Burma's first in 20 years.
Quintana, who also held talks with the Nobel laureate last week, urged Burma's parliamentarians, many of whom shed military uniforms to contest the election, to hold "open and inclusive debates on issues of national importance".
--------------------------------------
Will Burma really listen to the UN Rights Envoy?
By Zin Linn Aug 27, 2011 8:12PM UTC
Human Rights Special Rapporteur Mr Thomas Ojea Quintana on his Burma tour from 21 to 25 August separately met Union Parliament Speaker Thura Shwe Mann, National Parliament Speaker Khin Aung Myint, Union Chief Justice Tun Tun Oo, Chairman of the Union Election Commission Tin Aye, Union Minister for Home Affairs Lt-Gen Ko Ko, Union Minister for Defence Maj-Gen Hla Min, Union Minister for Foreign Affairs Wunna Maung Lwin, Union Minister for Labour and for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Aung Kyi, Union Attorney-General Dr Tun Shin and Deputy Chief of the Police Force Police Brig-Gen Zaw Win.
The explanation of Union Parliament Speaker Thura Shwe Mann to the UN Envoy was published in the New Light of Myanmar on Thursday.
“As Myanmar (Burma) is a member of the international community, it has embraced the opportunities to address democracy and human rights cases like the global community. Though, every country has different processes from other countries based on own culture, custom and historical background. As the Human Rights Special Rapporteur reviewed, Myanmar is on the correct path to democracy and will continue to march along the correct path,” Thura Shwe Mann said.
He also said, “Necessary laws will be ratified to make sure that Parliament representatives serve the public interest or bring about the people’s fundamental rights, democracy and human rights without party attachment, localism, racism and regionalism. So, the existing laws will be under review to abrogate and amend inconsistent ones and endorse new ones. Only then will multiparty democracy rights will do well in future. The power to issue writs has been grant to bring democracy and rights to the people. The government, judicial bodies, service personnel and the people will abide by the enacted laws through the check and balance.”
He also said that Parliament representatives know that armed conflicts due to misunderstanding among national races do not bring any benefits to the nation. Hence Parliament committees include the Committee for National Races Affairs and Internal Peace in addition to the Committee of Fundamental Rights, Democratic Rights and Human Rights of Citizens.
He said that the Judicial and Legal Affairs Committee has been formed to handle legal affairs in an effective way. The Parliament committees carry out tasks inside Parliaments, so it is safe to say that the tasks are carried out by the public. The report on progress in addressing land confiscation cases will be submitted to the Parliament session, and the government’s Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee will watch and see, he explained.
Union Parliament Speaker wants the Human Rights Special Rapporteur to prevent the acts of certain countries and organizations that trouble Myanmar (Burma) and the people at a time when Myanmar and the people are working together for democracy and human rights.
Finally, Thura Shwe Mann said, Myanmar (Burma) will accept and appreciate Special Rapporteur’s suggestions, people’s stances and international community’s suggestions. Moreover, the Human Rights Special Rapporteur can watch what Myanmar is working for democratization, Speaker Thura Shwe Mann said.
Even though, the UN envoy called on Burma Thursday to immediately probe human rights abuses, saying serious concerns remained regardless of signs of progress under the new questionable civilian government.
He also expressed concern about the condition in ethnic conflict areas, including attacks against civilians, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest, the recruitment of child soldiers and forced labor.
Mr. Quintana’s visit followed key opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi met with President Thein Sein last week. It was a top-level talk with the government’s chief since her release in November, after a controversial election. Quintana also held talks with Suu Kyi during his most up-to-date trip.
Quintana has not been issued a visa to visit Burma since March 2010, when he suggested forming of a commission of inquiry. Quintana last visited Burma in February 2010 but was not allowed to see opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest at the time. His consequential requests to revisit Burma have been refused.
In yesterday AFP News, Mr. Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma said, “This is a key moment in Burma’s history and there are real opportunities for positive and meaningful developments to improve the human rights situation and bring about a genuine transition to democracy,”
According to him, the new government has taken a number of steps towards transition to democracy. However, many serious human rights questions are still to be addressed. He has been repetitively calling for the release of Burma’s estimated 2,000 political prisoners.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/63590/will-burma-really-listen-to-the-un-rights-envoy/
----------------------------------------
Survival instinct steers Myanmar generals towards reform
Saturday, 27 August 2011 02:22
By Martin Petty
Rare overtures by Myanmar’s reclusive, authoritarian rulers towards liberalisation and reform suggest change could be afoot in the isolated nation.
The sudden stream of conciliatory gestures by Myanmar’s new civilian government has raised questions about the motives of the generals who only five months ago controlled one of the world’s most secretive, corrupt and oppressive regimes.
Diplomats, political analysts and many Burmese interviewed inside Myanmar say the retired generals brought back to power after a controversial election last year now appear to realise some moves towards reform could be the key to their survival.
Last week, President Thein Sein held an official meeting with and Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winning democracy advocate who was detained for 15 years until released from house arrest last year.
The meeting was welcomed by the international community, but widely regarded as theatre.
Western sanctions in place since the military crushed a 1988 student uprising have isolated Myanmar’s army dictatorships and continue to frustrate the new government, but there are no signs these will be lifted until there are concrete reforms, in particular, the release of an estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
“What seems to be happening is that the regime is seeking to make itself appear legitimate, a genuine and emerging democracy,” said Michael Charney, a Myanmar expert at London’s School of Oriental and Africa Studies.
“I don’t see any of this as a positive step forward for democracy, but instead as a means of cementing in place the positions of the families who currently hold power over the country with a view towards long-term control.”
The process of consolidating political power began long ago but accelerated in late 2009 when hundreds of state assets were auctioned off as part of an opaque privatisation boom in which cronies of the then-military junta snapped up lucrative contracts, business monopolies and property.
The sell-off preceded a carefully choreographed election in November that was won by a military-backed party. Thein Sein, the fourth in command of the former ruling military body, was chosen by parliament to become head of state. He hand-picked his own ministers.
PARIAH STATUS
The election and privatisation created a veneer of democracy and liberalisation in the former British colony also known as Burma, ensuring power, wealth and patronage was concentrated in the hands of a military-linked establishment, as previously seen in Indonesia and as now entrenched in neighbouring Thailand, where politics, business and the army are closely intertwined.
But despite those changes, Myanmar remains an international pariah, entangled in Western sanctions that restrict and stigmatise the country’s elite.
Experts suggest those tycoons may have leaned on the government to talk up reforms, engage with Suu Kyi and to try to appear more transparent and tolerant.
Western governments are watching, along with multinational companies, some of which have privately lobbied for an end to sanctions on the impoverished country of 50 million.
Recent overtures include calls for peace with armed ethnic separatists, presidential meetings with technocrats and foreign delegations, some tolerance of criticism, and the involvement of Suu Kyi in consultations about reconciliation and reform.
Yangon-based diplomats have expressed surprise at the government’s apparent change in tone but want to see more substantial progress.
“So far, so good,” said one Western diplomat. “I’m guardedly optimistic about further progress, but let’s wait and see.”
The mood is similar among parliamentarians. “Lawmakers, regardless of their party or background, have become more optimistic about the situation than before,” said Aye Maung, a senator and leader of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.
It is unclear whether Thein Sein is making the changes on his own or doing so at the request of Than Shwe, his political master and the country’s much-feared former strongman, whose orders are rarely defied.
David Steinberg, a veteran Myanmar analyst at Georgetown University in Washington said the lack of substantive concessions, especially political prisoners, meant real reforms or any undoing of sanctions would not come soon.
But he said the gestures were important indicators, and the government should be given the chance to prove itself.
“We’re seeing the possibility of change, things we’ve not seen before,” he said. “There’s a lot of disagreement from those who think this is phony change. It might be phony, but we should at least be open to the possibility some of it could be real.”
REUTERS http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/views/162796-survival-instinct-steers-myanmar-generals-towards-reform.html
-------------------------------------
Myanmar MPs propose prisoner amnesty: State media
Published on Aug 27, 2011
YANGON (AFP) - Members of Myanmar's army-dominated parliament have called for a sweeping jail amnesty, state media reported on Saturday, after a UN envoy called for the release of prisoners of conscience.
A proposal for a general amnesty was raised in the lower house on Friday, the New Light of Myanmar reported. 'They firmly hope that the president would make (an) assessment and release an order of amnesty,' the newspaper said, without giving further details on who would be included.
The plight of around 2,000 political prisoners, many of whom are serving double-digit jail terms, is a key concern of the international community, along with other human rights abuses and democratic reforms. It is the first time that serving military members of parliament have taken part in a discussion of a general amnesty since a nominally civilian government took over in March. A quarter of seats are reserved for the army. The regime, which came to power after controversial November elections, appears keen to improve its image and recently held the first talks between democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein, a former general.
But the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said serious concerns remained as he concluded a visit to the country on Thursday. http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_706571.html
---------------------------------------------
Radio Netherland Worldwide
Myanmar MPs propose prisoner amnesty: state media
Published on 27 August 2011 - 7:43am
Members of Myanmar's army-dominated parliament have called for a sweeping jail amnesty, state media reported Saturday, after a UN envoy called for the release of prisoners of conscience.
A proposal for a general amnesty was raised in the lower house on Friday, the New Light of Myanmar reported. "They firmly hope that the president would make (an) assessment and release an order of amnesty," the newspaper said, without giving further details on who would be included.
The plight of around 2,000 political prisoners, many of whom are serving double-digit jail terms, is a key concern of the international community, along with other human rights abuses and democratic reforms.
It is the first time that serving military members of parliament have taken part in a discussion of a general amnesty since a nominally civilian government took over in March. A quarter of seats are reserved for the army.
The regime, which came to power after controversial November elections, appears keen to improve its image and recently held the first talks between democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein, a former general.
But the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said serious concerns remained as he concluded a visit to the country on Thursday.
The UN envoy, who visited Yangon's notorious Insein jail during his five day trip, voiced fears over allegations of torture during detention and the use of prisoners as porters for the military.
"Of key concern to me and the international community is the continuing detention of a large number of prisoners of conscience," Quintana said.
In a move that rights groups said was woefully insufficient, Myanmar reduced all current jail sentences by one year in May and commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment.
Amnesty International said that political detainees are imprisoned using vague laws that criminalise peaceful political activists. They are held in poor conditions and moved to jails far from their homes and families.
Opposition leader Suu Kyi was freed from seven years of house arrest in November shortly after the election, Myanmar's first in 20 years.
Quintana, who also held talks with the Nobel laureate last week, urged Myanmar's parliamentarians, many of whom shed military uniforms to contest the election, to hold "open and inclusive debates on issues of national importance".
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/myanmar-mps-propose-prisoner-amnesty-state-media-0
----------------------------------------------------
August 27, 2011 10:57 AM
Myanmar OKS Setting Up Of New Political Party
YANGON, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- A new political party, Democratic Alliance Party (DAP), has been granted for establishment in Myanmar, according to the Union Election Commission on Saturday.
The establishment of the 17-member political party, inclusive of Dr. Soe Lin, has brought the number of political parties set up in the country in the post-election period to three, adding up to a total of 40 since last year's general election, reports Xinhua news agency.
In the multi-party general election held across Myanmar's seven regions and seven ethnic states on Nov 7 last year, 37 political parties including 82 independents took part and 1,154 candidates out of over 3,000 in the contest were elected as parliamentary representatives at three levels.
Besides the 1,154 elected parliamentary representatives, 388 or 25 percent were directly nominated by the military, bringing the total of the parliamentary representatives to 1,542.
The 659 union parliament representatives (house of representatives and house of nationalities) were made up of 493 elected ones and 166 or 25 percent directly nominated military ones.
Of the 493 elected parliamentary house of representatives and house of nationalities, 388 came from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by then Prime Minister U Thein Sein.
In the presidential election held at the first session of the union parliament on Feb 4 as a follow-up of the general election, U Thein Sein won the presidency and U Tin Aung Myint Oo and Dr. Sai Mauk Kham as vice presidents. All of the three represent the USDP.
The new government, led by President U Thein Sein, assumed office on March 30, 2011.-- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=610726
-----------------------------------------------------
Burmese military agents plant a powerful bomb in Kachin quarter
Published on Friday, 26 August 2011 07:50
du-kahtawng-EngA powerful TNT bomb planted by Burmese military agents in Myitkyina, in Kachin State, Northern Burma, was removed on Thursday (Aug. 25) before it exploded, according to witnesses.
The mine was put on the main electrical transformer near the Kachin Baptist Church, Quarter Administrative Office and Quarter Market, which is a crowded area, residents said.
According to night security guards in the area, they found the mine planted on the transformer after they checked a man with a motorcycle stopped in front of the quarter office about 1:30 a.m.
While they were questioning the man, two other men suddenly appeared on the road, one from transformer and another from quarter office. Then, the three men quickly drove away on one motorcycle, said sources from the guards.
Before the three military agents left, the man on the bike told the guards that he stopped there to refuel. The guards rejected his story and forced him to leave because there was no fuel shop, the sources added.
A piece of wire and a TNT mine was soon discovered at the transformer.
The Quarter Administrative Office confirmed to the Kachin News Group the mine was removed by a bomb squad from the Burmese Army’s Northern Regional Command, based in Myitkyina on Thursday.
The Myitkyina Police Station No. 1 declined to answer questions from the Kachin News Group concerning the event and suggested people can go and ask questions at the police station, not by phone.
The nominally civilian government, formed in March, keeps denying the KIO is a political armed group and officially labeled it as an insurgent (or a terrorist group), at its first press conference in Naypyidaw, on August 12.
The new civil war between the government and KIO started in Kachin State and Northern Shan State when the Burmese Army attacked the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) at Sang Gang on June 9 under the pretence of protecting the Taping (Dapein) dams in N’mawk (Momauk) Township, Manmaw (Bhamo) district, in eastern Kachin State.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Friday, 26 August, 2011-UZL
News & Articles on Burma
Friday, 26 August, 2011
--------------------------------
Analysis: Survival steers Myanmar generals towards reform
Change Burma Can't Quite Believe In
Nay Myo Zin Sentenced to 10 Years
Naypyitaw launches “peace” blitz
Political Prisoners' Release Remains Uncertain
Burma needs constitutional rectification to stop civil war
UN envoy urges Burma to probe rights abuses
Advisor: govt to form rights committee
Man with the plan in Myanmar
Will the Kyat Be Floated?
----------------------------------------
Analysis: Survival steers Myanmar generals towards reform
By Martin Petty
BANGKOK | Fri Aug 26, 2011 12:58pm IST
(Reuters) - Rare overtures by Myanmar's reclusive, authoritarian rulers toward liberalization and reform suggest change could be afoot in the isolated nation.
The sudden stream of conciliatory gestures by Myanmar's new civilian government has raised questions about the motives of the generals who only five months ago controlled one of the world's most secretive, corrupt and oppressive regimes.
Diplomats, political analysts and many Burmese interviewed inside Myanmar say the retired generals brought back to power after a controversial election last year now appear to realize some moves toward reform could be the key to their survival.
Last week, President Thein Sein held an official meeting with and Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winning democracy advocate who was detained for 15 years until released from house arrest last year.
The meeting was welcomed by the international community, but widely regarded as theater.
Western sanctions in place since the military crushed a 1988 student uprising have isolated Myanmar's army dictatorships and continue to frustrate the new government, but there are no signs these will be lifted until there are concrete reforms, in particular, the release of an estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
"What seems to be happening is that the regime is seeking to make itself appear legitimate, a genuine and emerging democracy," said Michael Charney, a Myanmar expert at London's School of Oriental and Africa Studies.
"I don't see any of this as a positive step forward for democracy, but instead as a means of cementing in place the positions of the families who currently hold power over the country with a view toward long-term control."
The process of consolidating political power began long ago but accelerated in late 2009 when hundreds of state assets were auctioned off as part of an opaque privatization boom in which cronies of the then-military junta snapped up lucrative contracts, business monopolies and property.
The sell-off preceded a carefully choreographed election in November that was won by a military-backed party. Thein Sein, the fourth in command of the former ruling military body, was chosen by parliament to become head of state. He hand-picked his own ministers.
PARIAH STATUS
The election and privatization created a veneer of democracy and liberalization in the former British colony also known as Burma, ensuring power, wealth and patronage was concentrated in the hands of a military-linked establishment, as previously seen in Indonesia and as now entrenched in neighboring Thailand, where politics, business and the army are closely intertwined.
But despite those changes, Myanmar remains an international pariah, entangled in Western sanctions that restrict and stigmatize the country's elite.
Experts suggest those tycoons may have leaned on the government to talk up reforms, engage with Suu Kyi and to try to appear more transparent and tolerant.
Western governments are watching, along with multinational companies, some of which have privately lobbied for an end to sanctions on the impoverished country of 50 million people, which is rich in natural gas, timber and gemstones and nestled strategically between economic powerhouses India and China.
Recent overtures include calls for peace with armed ethnic separatists, presidential meetings with technocrats and foreign delegations, some tolerance of criticism, and the involvement of Suu Kyi in consultations about reconciliation and reform.
In one gesture, Myanmar's state-run newspapers last week dropped back-page banners attacking Western media. Three official newspapers dropped half-page slogans that had been running daily accusing the Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) of "sowing hatred among the people," and other Western media of "generating public outrage."
Yangon-based diplomats have expressed surprise at the government's apparent change in tone but want to see more substantial progress.
"So far, so good," said one Western diplomat. "I'm guardedly optimistic about further progress, but let's wait and see."
The mood is similar among parliamentarians. "Lawmakers, regardless of their party or background, have become more optimistic about the situation than before," said Aye Maung, a senator and leader of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.
It is unclear whether Thein Sein is making the changes on his own or doing so at the request of Than Shwe, his political master and the country's much-feared former strongman, whose orders are rarely defied.
Britain's Foreign Office praised the meeting with Suu Kyi as encouraging. Washington said it supported Suu Kyi's decision to engage in "open and transparent dialogue."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon went further, saying: "it is in the national interest that they seize the opportunity to extend and accept conciliatory gestures."
PUSH FOR ACCEPTANCE
Win Min, a Burmese political scientist at Harvard University, said he believed Myanmar's new government was trying to convince the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to allow it to take its rotating presidency in 2014, two years ahead of schedule and a year before a general election the government does not want to lose.
The government, he said, saw hosting ASEAN as "crucial" because it would represent a degree of international acceptance that could lead to A reduction of sanctions and the possibility of aid from international financial organizations.
Myanmar has invited a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to visit in October to advise policymakers on how to tackle problems with the kyat currency, which has appreciated 20 percent in a year, hurting farmers and exporters and bankrupting businesses.
After months of inaction and simmering anger, the government last month cut taxes for exporters and has promised agriculture loans and price guarantees for millions of farmers, suggesting it may be concerned that any mishandling of bread and butter issues could see a repeat of bloody uprisings in 1988 and 2007 that were sparked by soaring inflation and fuel prices.
David Steinberg, a veteran Myanmar analyst at Georgetown University in Washington said the lack of substantive concessions, especially political prisoners, meant real reforms or any undoing of sanctions would not come soon.
But he said the gestures were important indicators, and the government should be given the chance to prove itself.
"We're seeing the possibility of change, things we've not seen before," he said. "There's a lot of disagreement from those who think this is phony change. It might be phony, but we should at least be open to the possibility some of it could be real."
(Additional reporting Aung Hla Tun in Naypyitaw; Editing by Jason Szep and Miral Fahmy) http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/08/26/us-myanmar-politics-idINTRE77P1DM20110826?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt&rpc=401
----------------------------------------
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: AUGUST 26, 2011
Change Burma Can't Quite Believe In
The country's democrats have higher aspirations than the junta's small moves at poverty alleviation.
By KELLEY CURRIE
"I think the president wants to achieve real positive change." So said Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in the days after she met President Thein Sein. The event itself was a surprise, her first meeting with a senior regime official since 2002. For his part, Thein Sein has recently called on political exiles to return home, announced a "peace overture" to ethnic nationalities, and supported key macro-economic policy reforms.
These and other hints of change have Burmese and outside observers wondering whether the regime's superficial transition from military junta to civilian dictatorship over the past year might presage something more meaningful. While the history of the Burmese regime warrants skepticism, the excitement this has aroused shows that even an unserious reform effort could pose a serious challenge for Burma's democratic movement.
One plausible explanation for the overtures is that the regime, or at least significant segments of it, has realized that if it opens up and rationalizes the Burmese economy, including creating a more stable regulatory environment, it can make an end run around Ms. Suu Kyi while turning its Western critics into willing investors in Burma's economy. For years the Burmese junta's generals have complained that the West subjects them to a double standard. They look at China, Vietnam and other non-democratic neighbors, and conclude that the West is punishing them for being a dictatorship while virtually ignoring a lack of democracy in other contexts where there is business to be done.
At the same time, Burma's neighbors have expended considerable effort to encourage the regime to open up its economy and adopt less draconian tactics. Even U.S. diplomats occasionally comment that they would like to see a Burma that looked more like China. Having decided that they want Burma to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014, the generals' cosmetic political reforms and newfound interest in poverty alleviation initiatives suggest they are experimenting with this strategy.
There should be no illusions that the regime as a whole is either willing or able to launch serious political and economic reforms of the type that are needed to rebuild Burma. The generals have talked about political and economic reforms before, and launched some during the Khin Nyunt era, only to retreat when senior leaders would not relinquish control.
Thein Sein's overtures come against a backdrop of continued detention of thousands of political prisoners, and fresh reports of Burmese army attacks on civilians in the Kachin, Shan, Mon and Chin states. Rumors of an increasingly bitter power struggle with Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo raise serious questions about the degree to which Thein Sein can deliver on even preliminary reform plans.
Burma's dictators also face a challenge that their counterparts in other countries generally do not: a well-established democratic opposition in the National League for Democracy, whose 1990 election victory and charismatic leader endow it with high levels of legitimacy at home and abroad. Regime outreach to the NLD and ethnic nationalities is couched in terms of getting the holdouts to come to terms with the deeply flawed 2008 constitution. Doing so would necessitate the NLD disavowing its election victory and the ethnics relinquishing their means of preserving autonomy—clearly non-starters.
Beyond Ms. Suu Kyi's easily revocable freedom and some initial meetings with the regime, the changes to date amount to little more than a new tone. With the regime's credibility starting from such a low base, convincing its most persistent domestic and international critics ultimately will require irreversible steps toward reform. The NLD remains focused on the emergence of a genuine dialogue on national reconciliation. Such a dialogue would necessarily involve significant releases of political prisoners, substantial changes to the 2008 constitution, and a real peace process with ethnic nationalities to be taken seriously.
These would be big challenges for any government, and seem insurmountable for one as insecure and brittle as Burma's regime. If the regime instead began to implement some economic reforms that could benefit Burma's longsuffering citizens even as it failed to engage in serious national reconciliation, there likely would be tremendous pressure on the democratic movement to get on board "for the good of the Burmese people." While Ms. Suu Kyi has always expressed a willingness to work with the regime toward those ends, the democratic movement has insisted that political issues are at the root of Burma's economic problems and must be addressed in order for sustainable economic development to take root.
After years of abysmal economic policy and severe political repression, it is tempting to believe it is sufficient that the Burmese regime is moving toward slightly greater political and economic openness. But Burma's democrats have higher aspirations for their country, and their supporters should too. Those who support human rights and democracy in Burma should avoid pressuring Burma's democrats to pursue well-intentioned poverty alleviation schemes as a substitute for changing political structures designed to enrich and preserve the ruling clique. Instead the pressure should stay focused on political reform.
Ms. Currie is a senior fellow with the Project 2049 Institute, a Washington-based think tank. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904875404576529901338368160.html?
--------------------------------------
Nay Myo Zin Sentenced to 10 Years
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, August 26, 2011
Nay Myo Zin, who worked as a volunteer for a blood donor group affiliated with the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday by Insein Prison Court in Rangoon, accused of breaking the electronic transactions act, Article 33(a).
Hla Myo Myint, a lawyer for Nay Myo Zin, said that he was arrested by the Special Branch on April 2 for no reason, and that his back was injured during interrogation. Nay Myo Zin was brought to court in a wheel chair, and recently received hospital treatment, his lawyer said.
The imprisonment of the former military officer comes just a day after United Nations Special Envoy Tomás Ojea Quintana discussed the release of prisoners with the Burmese authorities in Naypyidaw.
During Quintana's five-day visit to Burma he discussed with various ministers the torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners in Insein Prison, he said at a press conference to conclude his trip on Thursday.
In a UN statement, Quintana said, “In Insein prison, I heard disturbing testimonies of prolonged sleep and food deprivation during interrogation, beatings, and the burning of bodily parts, including genital organs. I also heard accounts of prisoners being confined in cells normally used for prison dogs as means of punishment.”
Nay Myo Zin graduated from Intake 30 of Defence Services Academy. He retired in 2005, and was arrested two days after the new civilian government led by President Thein Sein was formed in March this year.
Meanwhile, a court in Meikthila Township in Mandalay Division sentenced NLD member Aung Hla Myint to 16 months in prison for breaking a travel restriction that forbids him from leaving his home town of Tatkon. He was arrested after he went to Meikthila to attend a Martyrs’ Day Ceremony at the local NLD office. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21970
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Naypyitaw launches “peace” blitz
Friday, 26 August 2011 12:35 S.H.A.N.
The embattled Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), for the third time since the military campaign against it began in March, has been contacted by Burmese authorities to negotiate for peace, according to SSA sources.
“One thing that sets it apart from previous approaches is that this time the offer comes from the Shan State Government, and not Naypyitaw or the Burma Army,” and said Maj Sai La, the SSA spokesman, who added that he was still waiting for further details.
According to other reports, Mon, Karen and Kayah (Karenni) state governments have also sent members of the religious order to get in touch with armed resistance movements in each state.
The latest move followed the 18 August announcement by Naypyitaw inviting “national race armed groups wishing to make peace” to peace talks.
According to Myanmar News Agency, the People’s Assembly has also appointed U Thein Zaw, a former general and a Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) MP, as chairman of the National Race and Internal Peacemaking Committee. His counterpart in the National Assembly is U San Tun, another USDP member.
However, according to Khonumthung News, no other committee members have been appointed so far.
Col Sai Htoo, the SSPP’s Assistant Secretary General #2, maintained that the group, as a key member of the newly formed United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), is against Naypyitaw’s policy to hold “group-wise” peace parleys. “It is time President Thein Sein talked to the UNFC directly,” he said.
Others pointed out that throughout the 63 years after Independence, successive governments had employed the strategy of negotiating with individual groups instead of their alliance. “If it had worked, we wouldn’t be fighting today,” said a politician, who requested anonymity. “It’s time we gave their alliance a chance.”
One stumbling block to the expected talks however is that while Naypyitaw insists on holding talks on the basis of 2008 constitution, the alliances particularly the UNFC says the basis must be the 1947 Panglong Agreement that had guaranteed autonomy, democracy and human rights for the non-Burman states.
Another snag is the vague wording of the 18 August announcement which urges armed groups “wishing to make peace” to contact State or Region government concerned in order “to launch preliminary programmes” upon completion of which, the government will form a team for peace talks.
So far, no group has been able to explain what the “preliminary programmes” entail. “The regime needs to make itself clear about this,” commented Col Okker, leader of the PaO National Liberation Organization, another UNFC member.
http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3984:naypyitaw-launches-peace-blitz&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266
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Political Prisoners' Release Remains Uncertain
By SAI ZOM HSENG Saturday, August 27, 2011
Despite growing expectations that a breakthrough on the issue of political prisoners was imminent, UN envoy to Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana leaves the country with no guarantees for their release.
According to state-run The New Light of Myanmar (NLM), officials in Naypyidaw told the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Thursday that “political prisoners will be released when they are certain not to disrupt the nation's stability and peace.”
The statement was reportedly made by Upper House Speaker Khin Aung Myint in response to a question by Quintana regarding the detention of political prisoners and Shan politicians, land confiscations, and the teaching of ethnic languages at schools.
On Friday, NLM quoted Khin Aung Myint as saying: “The present government is very moderate; that any government [sic] does not want to put its people behind bars, sacrificing the labor of the nation.”
According to NLM, Quintana told government officials during his visit to Naypyidaw that Burma is on the right track toward reforming into a democratic country. He said that the UN secretary-general, the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, and the people who report on the human rights situation in the country are urging the government to release political prisoners because it is the main key in the formation of a democratic country.
However, despite the House Speaker's statement regarding the release of political prisoners, Burma's Chief Justice Tun Tun Oo was quoted in NLM as saying: “There is no prisoner serving a term for his belief. Prisoners are all serving their terms for the crimes they have committed.”
Tun Tun Oo said that the country's judges should stay away from politics and, under the present judicial system, they must handle cases in accordance with the constitution. He also said that the judiciary is one of the three sovereign powers of a nation.
At a press conference on Thursday evening to conclude his five-day visit to the country, UN envoy Quintana said that serious human rights issues remain in Burma despite positive steps by the authorities. He urged the government to intensify its efforts to implement its own commitments and to fulfill its international human rights obligations.
“Another concern is the continuing allegations of torture and ill treatment during interrogation, the use of prisoners as porters for the military, and the transfers of prisoners to prisons in remote areas where they are unable to receive family visits or packages of essential medicine and supplemental food,” Quintana said.
“In Insein prison, I heard disturbing testimonies of prolonged sleep and food deprivation during interrogation, beatings, and the burning of bodily parts, including genital organs. I also heard accounts of prisoners being confined in cells normally used for prison dogs as means of punishment,” he added.
Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), said that the Burmese government has been lying to the international community for a long time by saying that there are no political prisoners in Burma.
“The use of the words ‘political prisoners’ is included even in prison guards' handbooks,” he said. “Some prison directors still use the expression. When the government says there are no political prisoners, it shows that their activities and their words don't match.”
According to AAPP data, there are more than 2,000 political prisoners in the country.
Burma's opposition National League for Democracy, which is led by Aung San Suu Kyi, already addressed with Quintana issues surrounding the 2003 Depayin Massacre when dozens of party members were killed by a pro-government mob. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21969
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Burma needs constitutional rectification to stop civil war
Fri, 2011-08-26 00:46 — editor
By - Zin Linn
Recently, Burma’s new government has released a number of statements indicating its willingness to reach settlement with ethnic armed-groups and political opponents, domestic and exile. Regrettably, those offers have been considered inconsistent.
According to the speech delivered by President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burma) U Thein Sein at the first Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament) second regular session, he and his government has been gearing up to work with the international community.
For instance, the president said, “Our government has inherited traditional foreign policy which has never been harmful to international and regional stability and security and it is maintaining friendly relations with global nations. What’s more, we are trying to stand tall as a dutiful member of the global family in international and regional organizations. For this reason, we have officially proposed to take the ASEAN chairmanship in 2014. We are extending the hand of friendship to all global nations and all international organizations including the ASEAN.”
It is obvious that President Thein Sein’s government has set its sights on being allowed to hold the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014, a year before the country’s next scheduled polls.
Although Thein Sein’s government seems to make softer its political stance against its opponents in recent weeks, it fails to do more tangible improvement. For example, the release of political prisoners and approval of settlements with ethnic armed-groups are still delayed as yet.
However, Thein Sein emphasized that his new government was working for “citizen rights.”
“We are ready to co-operate with the international community,” he underlined.
Even though, the Thein Sein government turns a deaf ear to calls for the release of political prisoners. Besides, the government repeatedly declares the National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, an unlawful party.
In addition, Thein Sein told members of parliament that his government will pay attention to oppositions’ suggestions. He said the government has already prepared to talks on peace with armed ethnic groups since the progress of the frontier areas is dependent on stability.
But, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has rejected an offer of new peace talks from the government. On August 18, the government proposed joining in peace talks towards ethnic armed groups. But, it was dumped by the KIO and the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), because the government uses merely bilateral meeting which really is a divide-and rule policy towards ethnic groups without considering the Panglong Agreement.
Lar Nan, Joint-General Secretary-2 of the KIO, said it will not talk bilaterally any more with the government since such negotiation failed in the past. Talks between the KIO and the Burmese government were also abortive in 1963, 1972, and 1980 respectively; they all failed to get to the bottom of the political standoff between the two sides.
Currently, KIO declared that it will talk through the ethnic alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), keeping on the spirit of the Panglong Agreement.
On the contrary, the military-backed Burmese government announced its rejection of peace talks based on the principles of the 1947 Panglong Treaty to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on the weekend, according to the Kachin News Group. The government sticks to the 2008 controversial constitution as the guideline for the peace talks.
On August 15, in response to charges during August 12 press conference by information minister Kyaw Hsan, the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) issued a statement urging all parties concerned to revitalize the 1947 Panglong Agreement signed by the Burmese leader Aung San and leaders of the (then known as) Frontier Areas, Shan Herald Agency for News said.
SSPP/SSA says in its statement, “Instead of regarding ethnic peoples as enemies and accusing them as subversive elements, it’s high time national reconciliation was being forget by the present authorities on the basis of equality, justice and the Panglong Agreement.”
The historic agreement basically guaranteed self-determination of the ethnic minorities and offered a large measure of autonomy, including independent legislature, judiciary and administrative powers. However, the dream of equality and a federal union is far from being realized some six decades after signing the Panglong Agreement.
Burma’s new Constitution, approved in a May 2008 referendum, is inundated with misleading principles. It says the country must be united under one military command. To bring the ethnic groups in line with this proviso, the military regime has ordered all armed rebel groups to become part of Burma’s border guard force ahead of the 2010 election.
Ethnic minorities have been suffering through five decades of brutal military operations in the name of national unity. Attacks on these rural civilians continue on a daily basis. There is a constant demand from Burma’s ethnic groups to enjoy equal political, social and economic rights. The Constitution must guarantee the rights of self-determination and of equal representation for every ethnic group in the Parliament. It must also include provisions against racial discrimination.
At the June-2004 National Convention, 13 ceasefire groups submitted a political proposal demanding equal access to the plenary session. But the convention’s convening committee dismissed the proposal as improper. When the 2008 Constitution came out, none of the political points proposed by the ethnic representatives were included.
There is a big gap between the military junta and the NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi. To the military autocrats, allowing the ethnic minorities to enjoy equal political, social and economic rights is a hazard to national unity and sovereignty. To the NLD and ethnic alliance parties, granting equal rights to ethnic minorities will guarantee peace, stability and prosperity of the country.
In his latest speech, President Thein Sein said, “We know what happen to people and what people want. And we are striving our best to fulfill their needs to the full extent. To conclude my speech, I promise that our government as a democratically-elected government will do our best for the interests of the people.”
If the president really knows what people want, he should think about amending of the controversial constitution in which none of the political aspirations suggested by the ethnic representatives was integrated. If the current government truly committed to start political reforms, the first thing it should take into consideration is providing access to debate on constitutional flaws in the parliament.
Without a debate on the 2008 Constitution by all stakeholders, Burma will not win through its political catastrophe.
If the president wanted to do his best for the interests of the people, he should not be a dogmatist sticking to the unreasonable bill which will prolong the ongoing civil war.
- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/08/25/burma-needs-constitutional-rectification-stop-civil-war
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Bangkok Post
UN envoy urges Burma to probe rights abuses
Published: 26/08/2011 at 03:32 AM
Online news: Asia
A UN envoy called on Burma Thursday to urgently investigate human rights abuses, saying serious concerns remained despite signs of an improvement under the new nominally civilian government.
A UN envoy called on Myanmar Thursday to urgently investigate human rights abuses, saying serious concerns remained despite signs of an improvement under the new nominally civilian government.
"This is a key moment in Burma's history and there are real opportunities for positive and meaningful developments to improve the human rights situation and bring about a genuine transition to democracy," said Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma.
"The new government has taken a number of steps towards these ends. Yet many serious human rights issues remain and they need to be addressed," he said, calling for the release of Burma's estimated 2,000 political prisoners.
Quintana said he had "a frank and fruitful exchange of views" with government figures during his five-day visit, which follows recent signs that the regime is softening its stance towards opponents.
A civilian administration is now nominally in charge of Burma following a controversial election last year, but its ranks are dominated by former generals.
Quintana called on the government "to take the necessary measures for investigations of human rights violations to be conducted in an independent, impartial and credible manner, without delay".
The UN envoy, who visited Rangoon's notorious Insein jail earlier this week, voiced concern over allegations of torture during detention and the use of prisoners as porters for the military.
"In Insein prison, I heard disturbing testimonies of prolonged sleep and food deprivation during interrogation, beatings, and the burning of bodily parts, including genital organs," he said.
He also voiced concern about the situation in ethnic conflict zones, including attacks against civilians, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest, the recruitment of child soldiers and forced labour.
His visit comes after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with President Thein Sein last week in the highest-level discussions with the authorities since her release in November, days after a controversial election.
Quintana also held talks with Suu Kyi during his latest trip.
After his visit to the country last year, the envoy angered Burma's ruling generals by suggesting that human rights violations in the country may amount to crimes against humanity and could warrant a UN inquiry. http://www.bangkokpost.com./news/asia/253554/un-envoy-urges-burma-to-probe-rights-abuses
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Advisor: govt to form rights committee
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 26 August 2011
An advisor to President Thein Sein, Dr Nay Zin Latt has said the government is to form a national-level, independent human rights committee to handle human rights issues in the country, but doubts remain about a future body’s autonomy.
Dr Nay Zin Latt, after meeting with UN Human Rights Rapporteur Thomas Ojea Quintana, told DVB that a constitution is being drawn up for the committee and will likely be announced in the near future;
“The President has told us to work on this since some time ago and we are currently working on it. Actually, we had groups like this in the past but they were not properly organised,” said Nay Zin Latt.
“This time, we are forming a committee that is capable of working on a broad range of human rights issues.”
“You will see an organisation that is free from government’s influence and is capable of working independently,” he claimed.
Despite that Nay Zin Latt refused to disclose who would be on the committee.
The National League for Democracy’s (NLD) spokesperson and lawyer Nyan Win, however, said he was doubtful about the potential committee’s autonomy;
“If the [committee] is to be independent, then the government shouldn’t get involved – otherwise there will be limitations. It sounds like there will be improvements in the new committee than the previous one. But I’m still doubtful whether it would really be independent or not,” said Nyan Win.
“It is not likely that a few independent individuals would be able to protect our human rights. It would be more meaningful if they included more outside individuals to work together with government departments in forming the committee because otherwise these departments could collude – so we have to look at it from both sides.”
“Personally I’d prefer an organisation formed with independent and credible individuals,” he added.
Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are not allowed to work officially inside Burma. Such groups have claimed that a UN commission of inquiry is necessary following years of alleged abuses by the government. Such a suggestion needless to say is rejected out of hand by the government.
Human Rights Watch voiced concerns that practices such as forced portering and using convicts as porters are continuing apace under the new regime. A report they penned indeed alleged that in January of this year alone some 700 convicts had been press ganged into the dangerous job of slave portering in war torn Karen state.
Whilst the issue of autonomy for any institution is problematic in the current political climate, with parliament filled with the ranks of the military. http://www.dvb.no/news/advisor-govt-to-form-rights-committee/17288
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Man with the plan in Myanmar
By Shawn W Crispin
CHIANG MAI - When Myanmar President Thein Sein made his ground-breaking March 30 inaugural address, where the former military general made an unprecedented call for good governance and counter-corruption reforms, the text of the speech was lifted from an op-ed published a month before in the local The Voice weekly newspaper.
The author of the piece, Nay Win Maung, a policy wonk, journalist and outspoken advocate for reform, is in many ways at the forefront of Myanmar's still uncertain transition from military to democratic rule. People familiar with the copy flow say he has ghostwritten much of Thein Sein's reform script, including cues for his pro-democracy speech to parliament this week, as well as his high-profile conciliatory meeting last week with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Nay Win Maung's non-governmental organization (NGO), Egress, has submitted over 200 policy papers to the previous and current governments, including instructional blueprints on how to make the transition from military to civilian rule. Since last year's general election, he says he has sent policy advice through a secret police channel to Thein Sein's "West Wing" at Naypyidaw, Myanmar's newly built reclusive capital.
"Things are getting better," Nay Win Maung said in a recent interview in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, where he was delivering a lecture to ethnic minorities about their rights under the 2008 constitution. "We have received a lot of requests for policy papers from the president. We're in a position to shape the new government's policy agenda," he said.
To his proponents, Nay Win Maung represents a hopeful "Third Force" to break the decades-old political impasse between Myanmar's military generals and the Aung San Suu Kyi-led political opposition. He has emerged as the darling of European diplomats, international aid groups and humanitarian dialogue outfits keen to work for change and reconciliation from inside Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest and most isolated countries.
To his critics, he is an apologist for military-led incremental change and front man for plans presented as economic reform to privatize and redistribute the country's riches among a narrow military-linked elite - of which, they say, Nay Win Maung is part and parcel. Others see his Egress as a military-built "Trojan Horse" among unsuspecting European donors who believe they are supporting organic democratic change from within, but in the process are being hoodwinked into abandoning their commitments to pro-democracy groups in exile.
"It's a conditional reform process that comes at the expense of people who should be involved," says David Mathieson, Human Rights Watch's Myanmar researcher, referring to the 2,100 political prisoners still held behind bars. "Myanmar needs more pluralism, more voices and more debate, but in large part Egress has a monopoly on the discussion ... Nay Win Maung is not pushing for more people to be involved, and it is one of his shortcomings."
To Nay Win Maung, Myanmar's malaise is more a problem of economic mismanagement than political participation. Several of his policy proposals, he says, emphasize the need to break from personalized official decision-making and move towards more institutionalized, technocratic policy-making, concepts he honed while studying as a visiting world fellow at Yale University in 2004. His Yale bio says, "Trained as a medical doctor, Maung now sees himself as a policy critic and leading advocate for economic and political reform in Myanmar."
He's also taken academic interest in the country's international affairs. In one recent paper, he claims to have proposed a way ahead for bilateral relations with the United States, which maintains punitive economic and financial sanctions against the military regime and its business associates. As a gesture of goodwill, he suggested that military leaders should have signaled to Washington a week in advance, rather than springing as a surprise, its plan to release Suu Kyi from house arrest after last year's elections.
Slow and gradual
Nay Win Maung's views on the need for gradual rather than big-bang change have won him proponents among certain Western governments. Many of them carp about the slow pace of reform, Suu Kyi's perceived abstinence to compromise, and the ineffectiveness of the opposition in exile. Egress has emerged as the primary channel for their redirected donations, and currently reportedly receives funding and support from the United Kingdom's DFID, Sweden's SIDA and Germany's Freidrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, among others.
Registered as a non-profit organization, Egress now operates on a US$1 million annual budget, according to Nay Win Maung. The organization is divided into training and research units that often invite foreign academics, including Westerners from the National University of Singapore, to give (somewhat ironically) seminars and training on civil society. The outfit also specializes in journalist training, notably in one of the world's most censored and repressed media environments.
Others wonder whether Nay Win Maung is the free thinker he portrays, or rather a slick, foreign-friendly spokesman for the old military order and its desire to be removed from Western sanctions lists. Egress is backed by the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce (MCC), which helped to first initiate the organization. Until recently the MCC was led by Win Myint, a military-linked businessman blacklisted by the European Union, and is included on the US's sanctions list due to its association with the previous Than Shwe-led junta.
Exile media groups, meanwhile, point suspiciously to the preference and privilege Nay Win Maung and Egress appear to receive from authorities, noting that he is free to travel outside of the country without restriction and is often willingly quoted in the foreign media without fear of government reprisal while their in-country reporters operate from underground or are in prison.
"He's being used by both sides, diplomats and the government," says a Yangon-based journalist who claims to know him well. "He tells the government 'I'll convince the international community the elections were credible.' He tells the diplomats 'I am your connection to the new era opening in the country.' ... I think he's misrepresenting the story to both sides."
Nay Win Maung chalks up his special position - or "safety net", as he puts it - to his family's military pedigree. His father and mother both served as professors at Myanmar's equivalent of the US's West Point Academy and several of his father's students have risen to high military ranks. Nay Win Maung recalls many of them, including current President Thein Sein and Lower House speaker Thura Shwe Mann, visiting his family home when he was young.
Despite that top brass familiarity, Nay Win Maung claims to be walking on a razor's edge in his push for reform. Since 2004, government agents have twice searched his home over articles that appeared in his newspaper, including one that suggested the military should be under civilian government control. Between 2000-2004, he says he tried without success to get a proper newspaper publishing license because he was reportedly on a government "blacklist".
Before that, he helped to establish the Living Color news magazine with Ye Naing Win, son of former intelligence chief and prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt, who was overthrown in a 2004 intra-military purge. His The Voice newspaper has been suspended by government censors on at least 10 occasions, most recently last year for publishing an unsanctioned photo of Suu Kyi on its front page.
While such claims of personal repression give him street credibility with democracy-promoting Western donors, Nay Win Maung believes there is new space for constructive criticism only for those who uphold the 2008 constitution and the legitimacy of regime-led - rather than revolutionary - political change. He speaks openly about the corruption that plagued the outgoing junta, which he attributes to the unchecked discretionary powers of certain wayward military officials.
However, he saves his sharpest criticism for exile media and activists, who he readily portrays as increasingly irrelevant and out of touch with the country's new dynamic. He says those who believe that regime change through social upheaval, as attempted during the 2007 "Saffron" revolution, can instantly achieve democracy have an "overly simplistic" view of how such transitions have worked throughout history.
"They think if you just give power to the Lady [Suu Kyi], everything will be fine," he said. "I label them as naive. You need capacity-building before you can have democracy." Tongue in cheek, he suggests that those dissidents who favor regime change through upheaval could be held in an "air-conditioned prison hotel" on the outskirts of Yangon, where they would be free to meet with foreigners and others operating on the "periphery" of the change underway in Myanmar.
That said, Nay Win Maung is not naive enough to believe recent incremental changes are irreversible. He contends that Thein Sein's reform drive is already being challenged by military hardliners who are loathe to accept reforms that will narrow their past discretionary powers and special privileges. "Thein Sein means change," says Nay Win Maung, "but it's just as likely the situation ends in a military coup."
Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MH26Ae01.html
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Will the Kyat Be Floated?
By YENI Friday, August 26, 2011
As Burma's president, former general Thein Sein, acknowledges that the country's economy is struggling under the weight of multiple challenges, the question that is foremost on many minds right now is how his government will restructure a foreign-exchange regime that is fast becoming his administration's most pressing problem.
Since the beginning of this year, the Burmese currency, the kyat, has appreciated by more than 25 percent, putting severe pressure on the country's export sector and threatening any effort to restart the economy after decades of stagnation under direct military rule.
Currently sitting at around 750 kyat to the dollar, compared to more than a 1,000 kyat to the US unit a year ago, the exchange rate received a rare mention by a Burmese ruler last week, when Thein Sein, speaking to an audience of economists, businessmen and local aid organizations, said on Wednesday that the strengthening local currency is hurting the economy.
To reduce the burden on exporters, the government has cut export revenue tax on seven items—rice, beans and pulses, sesame, rubber, corn, marine products and animals and animal products—from 7 to 2 percent, and given them an exemption from commercial tax for a period of six months, from Aug 15 to Feb 14, 2012.
“We very much welcome the government's decision to provide a tax cut,” said Hla Maung Shwe, the vice-chairman of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation—adding, however, that with a loss in revenue of around 25 percent, “exporters are still feeling the pinch.”
There are several reasons for the appreciation of the kyat. Besides the declining value of the dollar worldwide, other factors include high oil and gas prices (Burma's biggest export is natural gas) and a spending spree by cronies of the military elite, who in the run up to this year's transition to ostensibly civilian rule used their massive dollar reserves to buy up property, gems and state assets.
The danger now, say experts, is that the exchange rate could reach a point where repatriated earnings from exports are no longer sufficient to cover the costs of production, inflicting huge losses on businesses that could force enterprises to shut down.
Another problem that could emerge is that locally manufactured goods could be squeezed out of the domestic market by cheap imports—something that would have far-reaching effects on an economy that has long been geared to self-sufficiency.
“The economic, social and political consequences of this chain of events could be serious,” wrote U Myint, a leading Burmese economist and the top economic advisor to Thein Sein, in a recent paper addressing the exchange-rate issue.
If any good has come of this situation, it is that Naypyidaw seems to be taking U Myint's warning to heart. The government recently told Burmese business leaders that it was preparing to change the official exchange rate, currently set at around six kyat to the dollar, and would soon terminate its use of Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs), which are circulated in place of US dollars domestically.
Dumping an unrealistic and grossly inefficient system that has long distorted the country's economy is definitely a step in the right direction, but it is one that will require a degree of expertise that is completely lacking among the country's key decision makers.
That's why the government has turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for advice. This will first of all involve asking Naypyidaw to provide key macroeconomic data, such as foreign exchange reserves, balance of payments, national budget, money supply, and GDP—including its sectoral composition and growth rate—household income and expenditures surveys, foreign direct investment inflows, and foreign trade statistics.
There is little, however, that the IMF can do in practical terms.
Because Burma hasn't paid back its debts to multilateral financial institutions—and because the US wields effective veto power over the IMF—the country is barred from receiving and new financial aid.
That shouldn't matter, however, because Burma is believed to have abundant foreign exchange reserves (thanks to its sales of gas, gems and other natural resources), which it would need if it decided to simply float the kyat, discarding a fixed exchange rate that has long since ceased to have any relation to economic reality.
Floating the kyat “would require quite literally little more than the stroke of a pen,” according to Australian economist Sean Turnell, an expert on Burma's economy at Macquarie University.
In fact, introducing a floating currency would only be a matter of making official the informal system that has long been in place in Burma, where for decades most international transactions have been based on an unofficial exchange rate determined by market forces.
If the Burmese government allowed the kyat to float, it would reduce bureaucracy, increase economic freedom and hinder those elements that use the current exchange-rate arrangements as a vehicle for corruption.
The only danger, however, is that bringing a degree of common sense to Burma's exchange rate system could create the false impression that the country's economic problems can be solved without other, more fundamental changes.
“The exchange rate issue is important, but it's far from the most serious of Burma's economic problems, which have their roots in the lack of property rights, reasonable policy making, a voracious state apparatus, etc,” said Turnell.
According to a 2008 paper by Dr. Tin Soe, a former professor and head of a department at the Rangoon Institute of Economics, Burma's economy since the early 1960s, when the country first came under military control, has been characterized by “inconsistency, instability, interruption and discontinuation, rigidity and limited scope and vision, lack of transparency, unpredictability and uncertainty, quantitative physical targets-orientation, inefficient and ineffective implementation and use and abuse of consultancy and advisory services.”
In other words, if Thein Sein really wants to make a difference, his government will have to break half a century of bad habits. Floating the kyat would be a start, but it will take much more than this to clean out the Augean stables of Burma's economy. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21971
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