News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 17 October, 2011-UZL

News & Articles on Burma Monday, 17 October, 2011 --------------------------------------- Burmese Army Mounts Multi-front Offensive Against KIA Ethnic Parties Back Suu Kyi to Contest Election NLD still undecided on registration Three DVB journalists freed from jail India and Burma focus on energy and security Burma, Once Isolated, Seeks Global Investment Activists welcome release of prisoners of conscience In Burma: a fake out -- or real reform? Myanmar to allow unions Malaysia, Myanmar Eye Swapping Immigration Detainees Arakanese join Karen rebel ambush ------------------------------------------- Burmese Army Mounts Multi-front Offensive Against KIA By BA KAUNG Monday, October 17, 2011 Deadly armed clashes between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) continued in Kachin and Shan states on Monday, according to KIA officials who said they believe the latest military offensives by the government side are aimed at taking control of their major strongholds. Since Thursday, fighting has been reported at a number of locations considered to be key defensive positions en route to Pajau and Laiza, the KIA's two most important bases of operations. One focal point has been Lung Zep Kong, a hill near Waimaw Township in Kachin State that lies along the way to Pajau, while sporadic fighting has also been reported in the village of Nam Sen Yang in Kachin State and in Tamonye, near Kutkai Township in Shan State. Government troops have mounted three major assaults on this hill since Friday, the latest one this morning, when it sent a strong force of around 600 men in an effort to occupy it, said KIA Col Zau Raw, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday. We believe that these military operations show they intend to occupy Pajau. he added. According to KIA spokesman La Nan, fighting continued today at all three locations, with heavy casualties reported at Lung Zep Kong, most of them on the Burmese side, as the KIA mowed down soldiers ordered to take the hill. The government soldiers simply charged up the hill, leaving our soldiers with no option but to shoot them down, said La Nan, adding that there were at least 30 bodies scattered around the area following fighting over the weekend. The KIA spokesman said that at least 82 armed clashes have taken place since June, when fighting broke out near Chinese-built hydropower plants in Bhamo Township, Kachin State, ending a 17-year-old ceasefire agreement between the two sides. Of these, 17 have occurred so far this month, he said. Even before this incident, however, tension had been growing over the government's insistence that the 10,000-strong KIA join a Border Guard Force (BGF) under Burmese military commanda demand the KIA did not reject outright until the fighting started in June. During two subsequent rounds of peace talks, the government offered the KIA a chance to renew the 1994 ceasefire agreement, but rejected the group's demands for a political dialogue between all ethnic armed groups and Naypyidaw. The government has since then apparently shelved the controversial BGF plan, recently renewing temporary ceasefire agreements with the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army, the largest ethnic armed group in Burma, and another its much smaller ally, the Mongla group, based near the Chinese border. Asked if the KIA would accept a ceasefire if government dropped the BGF demand, as it did with the UWSA, La Nan said the group would not accept another temporary ceasefire without achieving its political rights. With much of the recent fighting taking place near the Sino-Burmese border, there have been reports that hundreds of Chinese army troops have been stationed along the border to prevent an influx of refugees and to maintain control over Chinese territory. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22275 -------------------------------------------------- Ethnic Parties Back Suu Kyi to Contest Election By KO HTWE Monday, October 17, 2011 The Nationalities Brotherhood which represents five ethnic parties has urged pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to form a legitimate political party to contest the 2015 general election. The joint statement was issued on Saturday by the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP), the Phalon Sawaw Democratic Party, the Shan Nationalities Development Party (SNDP) and the Chin National Party. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Nai Ngwe Thein of the AMRDP said the group wanted to get behind Suu Kyi because she was best placed to exploit the common ground between different interest groups to challenge the government. [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] is currently involved in politics outside Parliament, but is not politically recognized. So I want her to register and to contest the election. To do this legally is better, said Nai Ngwe Thein. If Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) register and return to political work it can be more effective in trying to achieve peace and national reconciliation, he added. The Upper House will discuss a bill to amend the Political Parties Registration Law which currently stipulates that those convicted by a court and serving a jail term are not eligible to form a political party. In March 2010, the NLD decided against registering for the general election and Suu Kyi has rejected her party's participation in future polls without amendments to the 2008 Constitution. However, she said the final decision will be left to her party. NLD spokesman Nyan Win said he thought the statement by the five ethnic parties urging Suu Kyi to contest coming elections strengthens the democratic opposition. But he declined to comment further on the issue as his party has not yet decided whether they will officially register. Sao Hseng Merng of the SNDP told The Irrawaddy that Suu Kyi contesting the election would help Burma internationally and within Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but it is very important that she should not be taken advantage of by the government. All the ethnic peoples both inside and outside Burma support her so the conflict would stop inside the country. I think she will never misuse the faith of the ethnic people, he added. The Nationalities Brotherhood statement also welcomed the release of 6,359 prisoners including prisoners of conscience and urged the government to immediate release Hkun Htun Oo, Min Ko Naing, other ethnic and student leaders, plus all political prisoners without conditions. The five ethnic parties also called for the government to form a peace committee with representatives from the five ethnic parties as well as experts and reputable persons to form a workshop focusing on peace and resolving ongoing armed conflicts in ethnic areas in eastern and northern Burma. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22273 -------------------------------------------- NLD still undecided on registration By Sann Oo October 17 - 23, 2011 The National League for Democracy is yet to decide whether it will re-register as a political party, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said last week. I heard that amendments to the [Political] Party Registration Law have been discussed in the hluttaw. So we will have a discussion about NLD registration after that [amendment is approved], Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told reporters in Yangon on October 8 after meeting Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Espen Barth Eide. How can we decide whether to register if we dont know yet about the law? We will act according to the situation. Our party always works according to the situation, she said. The Union Election Commission (UEC) on October 5 proposed three amendments to the Political Parties Registration Law, including one that would allow those serving prison terms to be party members. Parties would also be required to respect and observe the 2008 constitution under another amendment rather than preserve and safeguard the document as the original law stipulates. The commission said the latter change was being made so that the law would correspond with a clause in the constitution that states: This constitution and the existing laws shall be respected and observed. The second revision, to remove the clause that convicts, being those serving a prison term, are not allowed to be party members, was proposed because at present the state respects the rights of citizens, a UEC member told parliament. The third would require political parties to field candidates in at least three constituencies for by-elections as well as general elections, as long as there were at least three constituencies being contested in the by-elections. The commission member said this clarification was required to make it fair for both newly formed parties and those that existed before last years general election. Some observers said the changes are intended to persuade the NLD to formally register, possibly before by-elections later this year. But Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not comment when asked about that by reporters. She said only the partys central executive committee could decide whether it would re-register. The NLD was founded on September 27, 1988, with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as its general secretary. On May 6, 2010 the party was declared illegal after failing to register for the November election. http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/597/news59708.html ------------------------------------------- Three DVB journalists freed from jail By JOSEPH ALLCHIN Published: 17 October 2011 Three video journalists working for the Democratic Voice of Burma were among the 6,539 prisoners released in an amnesty last week. The Oslo-based exiled media outlet now has 14 staff behind bars but for security reasons is unable to divulge the identity of its released journalists, some of whom may return to a working environment where laws criminalising freedom of speech are still in force. Geraldine May, who coordinates a DVB-run campaign to free its journalists, said: "We are deeply concerned about those still behind bars, and all journalists who are criminalised by the government's laws and whom, as a result, are threatened with unacceptable harassment and detention for doing an essential job within a democracy." The general prisoner amnesty coincided with Thidangyut Buddhist full moon and was described as a meritorious deed by the government of Thein Sein, rather than a policy change. The government and its newly-appointed National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) refuses to acknowledge the jailed activists, journalists, MPs and so on as political. The NHRC describes them as "what are referred to as prisoners of conscience". In a statement put out by the group prior to the amnesty, it only called for prisoners "who do not pose a threat to the stability of state and public tranquillity" to be released, rather than recognising the right of individuals to challenge the state in a democracy. This has caused critics to label the amnesty as similar to those carried out by the military regime, marking no break in policy and asking questions of the self-avowed commitments of the new government. Critics such as the Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, were swift to condemn the release as superficial, stating that all journalists behind bars should be freed if widely-heralded reforms were to be taken seriously. Amnesty International called for laws used to silence journalists, such as the Electronics Act, to be repealed. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that, "The laws that put them behind bars are still on the books and can be used again at any time. If the government wants to show it is really different from its predecessors, it should convene parliament and repeal laws criminalising peaceful political speech." Indeed the prominent comedian, Zarganar, who was included in the amnesty, told DVB that he "began to have doubts about the so-called reform because I don't understand why everyone in prison wasn't released." President Thein Sein had appeared to acknowledge the necessity of a free media and rights for all, including journalists, by unblocking previously banned news websites, including the BBC, Reuters and DVB. http://www.dvb.no/news/three-dvb-journalists-freed-from-jail/18224 ----------------------------------------- India and Burma focus on energy and security By (FINN) Frontier India News Network | October 16th, 2011 | Category: Editorial Burma (also called Myanmar) is the other South East Asian country after Vietnam that engaged India last week. Burma's President Thein Sein called on Indian prime Minister in New Delhi on Friday, 14 Oct. Among other topics, Security and Energy topped the table. The two countries underscored the need to strengthen institutional mechanisms for sharing of intelligence to combat the menace of insurgency, arms smuggling and drug trafficking. They agreed on further strengthening of border management mechanisms and reiterated not to allow their respective territory to be used for training, sanctuary and other operations by terrorist and insurgent organizations and their operatives. Expansion of of air connectivity, feasibility of establishing railway links, ferry and bus services between the two countries were discussed. Early implementation of the Rhi-Tiddim Road Development Project with grant assistance from India will be expedited. The officials agreed to examine commencement of ferry services on the Kolkata-Yangon and Chennai-Yangon routes. There was a review on the progress in establishing trilateral connectivity from Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar. The meeting noted that substantial progress had been achieved in the preparation of a DPR for roads and causeways in Myanmar. On communication, the countries have decided for an early upgradation of the microwave link between Moreh and Mandalay or other necessary link under the Indian line of Credit. A new Optical Fibre link between Monywa to Rhi-Zawkhatar with Indian assistance will be established. India assisted Industrial Training Centre in Pakokku, has been completed and another Industrial Training Centre at Myingyan with technical support from HMTI is in progress. As a part of renewal of Science and Technology Agreement in 2010, the Programme of Cooperation in Science and Technology for the period of 2012-15 was signed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced support for training of Myanmar researchers under India-Myanmar Programme of Cooperation in Science and Technology. The countries agreed for the need to strengthen and broaden the multifaceted relationship based civilizational ties and close religious, and cultural affinities. The meet emphasized the need to intensify economic, social and developmental engagement in order to bring about overall socio-economic betterment and inclusive growth. The External Affairs Minister's of the two countries will hold further consultation in New Delhi in early 2012 and the next round of Foreign Office consultations would be held in India at mutually convenient dates in 2012. http://frontierindia.net/india-and-burma-focus-on-energy-and-security ---------------------------------------- Burma, Once Isolated, Seeks Global Investment Aung Hla Tun & Jason Szep | October 16, 2011 Rangoon. Reforms in Burma, the former British colony, that gathered speed this year are likely to continue and possibly accelerate, even if this week's release of prisoners was disappointingly small. Recent overtures by the government have included calls for peace with ethnic minority groups, some tolerance of criticism, an easing of media controls and more communication with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released last year from 15 years of house arrest. Southeast Asian diplomats expect the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations to approve at their summit next month in Bali Burma's bid to take its rotating presidency in 2014, two years ahead of schedule, giving the new government some long-sought international recognition. Reasons behind the wave of reforms are varied. A local currency crisis is forcing the government to seek urgent help from multilateral institutions. Populist anger is rising over neighbor and historic rival China's expanding economic influence. And Western sanctions are no longer merely a nuisance. They have begun to bite. The government, say those familiar with its thinking, has begun to covet US and European investments as a counterweight to billions of dollars of Chinese money flowing into its energy industry -- from natural gas to hydro-power and pipeline projects that cater almost exclusively to energy-thirsty China. Sanctions, they add, also keep some of the Burmese elite's children out of American schools -- a frustration that has grown more acute among a new generation. And, crucially, since the army nominally handed over of power to a civilian parliament in the first elections in two decades, President Thein Sein has defied sceptics by reaching out to pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi, daughter of assassinated independence hero General Aung San. Thein Sein, a retired general and first civilian head of state in half a century, surprised Suu Kyi's supporters by appointing one of her friends, U Myint, as chief economic adviser, a step that more than any other could yield reforms in months ahead, say economists who track the country. U Myint is a dramatic break from decades of staid autocrats and policy blunders by military juntas since a 1962 coup. The 73-year-old former senior UN economist has been openly critical of the former junta but is well regarded on both sides of the political divide, a bridge between pro-democracy forces and conservative former generals who dominate parliament. Recently he called for a crackdown on graft, a bold step in a country ranked second on Transparency International's 2010 list of most corrupt nations, worse than Afghanistan. His views on Burma's currency, the kyat, offer a glimpse into a nation desperate for help. They alone form perhaps the strongest argument for why more reforms are likely. While the currency is pegged at six kyat to a dollar, it changes hands unofficially at about 850, up about 15 percent this year on sales of natural gas, jade and gems, a surge of foreign investment from China and swelling private capital from neighboring countries and the Middle East. U Myint sees trouble ahead if the largely Chinese-investment fueled black-market rate keeps rising. In a paper presented to the government in June, he warned that it could destabilize Burma and urged the government to reach out to the International Monetary Fund for help. "If the exchange rate continues to appreciate unchecked, a stage will be reached when earnings from exports in local currency are no longer able to cover costs of production, huge losses are incurred, and enterprises have to close down," he wrote, according to a translation of his paper. Workers could lose jobs, farmers and fishermen will struggle to sell produce, he said, adding that "the economic, social and political consequences of this chain of events can be serious." But more reforms -- economic and social -- are likely to be the price of their full support. "The key event will be the re-engagement of the World Bank and the multilateral organizations," said Douglas Clayton, a former hedge fund manager who is now chief executive and managing partner of Leopard Capital, a private-equity fund focused on emerging Asian markets and backed by overseas investors. "At some point it will be very hard for the West to justify continuing economic sanctions against a country that is undergoing reform." He sees opportunities "in almost every sector" if sanctions come down -- from manufacturing to infrastructure and agriculture in a country that just over 50 years ago was one of Asia's rising stars, the world's top rice exporter and a major energy producer with a well-educated workforce. Government sources say U Myint is set to roll out more financial reforms, including allowing some private and semi-government banks to handle foreign currencies, reviewing foreign investment laws and clearing the way for three state-owned banks to open overseas branches. The pricier currency also points to deeper changes Mynamar's wealthy converted dollars into kyat last year during a wave of privatization as the junta strengthened control over major assets before ceding power to the civilian government. About 300 state assets -- from real estate, gas stations and toll roads to ports, shipping companies and an airline -- were privatized in opaque sales. That put valuable assets under the control of former generals through holding companies, or in the hands of their allies, turning the ex-military elite into financial power-brokers who stand to benefit from increased trade if sanctions are brought down -- another reason why reforms are under way. "These moves are about the regime's survival," said Bertil Lintner Thailand-based author and expert on Burma. The country, as big as France and Britain combined, sits strategically between booming India and China with ports on the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea, all of which have made it a vital energy security asset for Beijing's landlocked western provinces. Backed by Chinese money, Burma is building a new, multi-billion-dollar port through which oil can reach a 790-km pipeline now under construction -- with Chinese investments and Chinese workers - that will be cut across Burma and link refineries in western China. Another parallel pipeline will pump Burma's offshore natural gas to China. Total foreign direct investment promises to soar to $20 billion from just $300 million a year before, official data showed. India and Southeast Asia have sought to ramp up engagement, largely to counterbalance China's influence and to gain a toehold in a country whose proven gas reserves have tripled in the past decade to around 800 billion cubic meters, equivalent to more than a quarter of Australia's, BP Statistical Review figures show. Even if the reforms continue, Burma faces a daunting public relations exercise to end its image as a backwater run by autocratic former generals and drug lords, blighted by conflicts and years of brutal suppression of pro-democracy uprisings. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/burma-once-isolated-seeks-global-investment/472016 ------------------------------------------- Activists welcome release of prisoners of conscience By Sann Oo October 17 - 23, 2011 DAW Aung San Suu Kyi last week welcomed an amnesty that saw 6359 prisoners go free but said more prisoners of conscience should be freed. As far as I heard, about 100 [political] detainees have been released from various prisons. I hope more will be released soon, she told reporters at a respect-paying ceremony held on October 12, the full moon of Thadingyut. I want to say thanks even for the release of one prisoner of conscience. The freedom of one person is invaluable and the freedom of many people is more invaluable. The more that are freed, the better it is for the country. But I want and hope that all detainees will be released soon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said. Thadingyut marks the end of Buddhist Lent and is traditionally a day when people pay homage to their elders. About 1000 people attended the ceremony, which took place at Royal Rose Hall on Shwegonedaing Road in Bahan township, to pay respect to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, unregistered National League for Democracy (NLD) vice chairman U Tin Oo and senior party member U Win Tin. It was the first time the ceremony had been conducted. U Win Tin, a veteran journalist, said he welcomed the amnesty and urged the audience to help the released detainees. Some detainees have been released and there are more to be released. I am happy about that. I also want to say I welcome their release. And I also want to thank the government and respective persons for the release, U Win Tin said. But just the welcoming is not enough. We have to hold their hands, we have to support them. We have to help them to rebuild their lives. Before their time in prison, they had family, business and political lives. But since they have been put into the prison, in many cases their lives have been destroyed, he said. The audience included many younger political activists and U Win Tin urged them to do more for the development of democracy. http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/597/news59706.html ------------------------------------------ In Burma: a fake out -- or real reform? Longtime Burma (Myanmar) watchers say recent reforms may amount to a genuine democratic opening for the authoritarian regime, but critics dismiss the moves as a propaganda offensive. Bangkok, Thailand After nearly a half century of brutal military rule, Burma's government, which formally made the transition to a civilian government in March, has made a series of reforms that could signal more than superficial reform. Burma (Myanmar) is no stranger to public relations efforts. It periodically releases large numbers of prisoners out of "goodwill." In May, military rulers released some 14,000 prisoners. In 2009, the country released around the same number, but in both instances, only a tiny percentage were considered "political." Still, the amnesty of thousands of prisoners, the induction of a parliament, the scrapping of a major dam project, and a number of other more minor actions -- such as allowing a picture of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's main opposition leader, to appear in government-censored publications -- seem to indicate a noticeable shift. Is Burma, a country that has been in virtual isolation for the past 50 years and is often compared with North Korea, taking steps to embrace democracy? Burma's location, nestled between China, India, and Thailand, puts it in a key position to be a major regional player. When the military seized control in 1962, the country was considered more developed than Thailand. Now sheer poverty pushes millions to leave the country in search of work. The military held on to power by crushing any sign of dissent through detention and torture. But in late September, Burma's new government turned heads when it announced that a massive $3.6 billion Chinese dam project would be "suspended" after years of planning because of public pressure. And on Oct. 12, the government freed iconic comedian Zarganar and announced that more than 6,350 other prisoners would also walk free in amnesty. Think you know Asia? Take our geography quiz. Zarganar was arrested twice for poking fun at the military and inciting violence, and served three years of an initial 59-year sentence. He told the Burma Today journal that the amnesty "was like putting lots of makeup on an old lady's face." Out of an estimated 2,000 political prisoners in jail, Human Rights Watch estimates that the current amnesty applied to only 200. Indeed, according to the state-run newspaper, only prisoners "who do not pose a threat to the stability of state and public tranquility" would be released on humanitarian grounds. It was a step, but a small one, says Human Rights Watch's Burma researcher David Mathieson, and it was "disappointing, given the limited number of political prisoners released." Critics such as Bo Kyi of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma point out that criminal records of released political prisoners are not erased, and that there was no indication of wrongdoing from the government or a change in the laws that put them there. Key players such as Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 1988 student protests, will remain in jail. "Leaders like these guys ... have a lot of cachet and the government knows they can't control them. They challenge its legitimacy," Mr. Mathieson says. Still, he adds, "the recent wider reforms have been uncharacteristic of previous regimes." For example, until a new law was passed on Oct. 11, workers were banned from forming or joining unions under an autocratic 1962 law passed soon after military rule began. Now, workers will potentially see "massive" benefits, according to the head of the International Labor Organization in the country, Steve Marshall. This law would guarantee not only the right to join unions but also to strike, making it illegal for employers to breach that right. The government has also begun unblocking news websites such as those of Reuters and the BBC. Press has been heavily censored in the country; dozens of journalists have been sent to jail. Another possible reason for Burma's concessions is the dire state of the economy. Economist Zaw Oo recently noted that "many officials became quite dependent on the artificial exchange rate," but have since realized the magnitude of Burma's economic problems. Some fear the recent reforms are all part of a propaganda offensive. "Based on my current experiences, I dare not think changes are real and big this time either ... the release of prisoners was just a sprinkle -- way too little," said Zarganar to the local news after his release. Still, expressing that sentiment would most probably not have passed the censors a year ago. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/1016/In-Burma-a-fake-out-or-real-reform/%28page%29/2 ----------------------------------------- Special Reports Myanmar to allow unions Published: Oct. 17, 2011 at 6:05 AM YANGON, Myanmar, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Myanmar will allow unions to be formed and workers to strike when a new law kicks in this month. Deputy Labor Minister Myint Thein told the Democratic Voice of Burma, which operates out of Norway, that President Thein Sein signed the bill into law last week. The labor organization bill cancels a nearly 60-year-old anti-labor union decree, the 1962 Trade Unions Act, which effectively banned trade unions. Myint said the law, which takes effect at the end of the month, will allow more transparency in the labor market and also boost the country's ability to attract foreign investment. "It will help us get more benefits for the economy because our labor organization law means workers can organize according to their will," Myint told DVB. "Our government transparency will attract foreign countries and foreign direct investment can flow freely." Private sector workers will have to give at least three days notice and public sector employees must allow 14 days notice. Striking workers won't be allowed to block transport routes or security infrastructure. Workers in officially designated essential services won't be allowed to strike. An employer who dismisses workers because of union affiliation or because they have gone on strike faces a fine of up to $120 and a year in jail, Myint said. To be an official union, the organization must have at least 30 members who can leave whenever they wish. Unions will have to register with a government-appointed agency. Steve Marshall, the International Labor Organization's representative in Myanmar called the law "a massive move for the country" in terms of social and economic development. "You don't join unions to simply be in a club. You join unions for collective bargaining and proper economic management of the labor market," Marshall told DVB. The ILO has had a representative in Myanmar, formally known as Burma, since 2002 when it signed an agreement with the ruling military government, many of whose members are now civilians in the military-backed government that took office in March after being elected in November. The main job of the ILO's representative in Myanmar is to help victims of forced labor seek redress. The ILO condemned the junta in 1998 for its "systematic and widespread" use of forced labor. The military leaders were treating civilians as an unlimited pool of unpaid laborers and servants, it said. In June, Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro democracy advocate who has spent many of the past 20 years under some form of arrest and incarceration, urged the ILO to increase its activities in Myanmar. In a video message to the ILO's 100th International Labor Conference in Geneva, Suu Kyi made "a special appeal for my own country, Burma," to improve working conditions. She said Myanmar was once considered the nation most likely to succeed in Southeast Asia. "But now it has fallen behind almost all the other nations in this region," she said. "The work of the ILO in our country has highlighted the indivisibility of social, political and economic concerns. In its attempt to eliminate forced labor and the recruitment of child soldiers, the ILO has inevitably been drawn into work related to rule of law, prisoners of conscience and freedom of association." Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, told the BBC the move to allow unions was in the right direction. Labor rights had "improved from nothing to something," he said. The establishment of the union law is another apparent move toward a more democratic society for a country ruled by juntas for most of the past 50 years. But critics of the new government regard it as a civilian veneer on an ostensibly military administration -- one-quarter of the seats in Parliament are reserved for military appointments. Most of the government leaders are former senior military figures from the previous junta who retired to run as civilians. A test of the government's tolerance of unions will be how the union-in-exile Federation of Trade Unions of Burma is treated if the organization decides to come in from its shadowy existence. It has been holding annual "conferences" at "a certain place in the Thai-Burma border area," the FTUB Web site says. It was formed in 1991 after the junta clamped down on unions. In 1998 Myo Aung Thant, a senior FTUB member, was sentenced to life in prison for labor organization activities inside Myanmar. As late as 2003, two FTUB members reportedly were sentenced to death. The ILO-affiliated International Committee for Trade Union Rights said they were sentenced for attending an FTUB meeting on the Thai border where they were relaying information on forced labor to the ILO. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/10/17/Myanmar-to-allow-unions/UPI-74471318845900/#ixzz1ajXTPO13 ---------------------------------------------- October 17, 2011 17:10 PM Malaysia, Myanmar Eye Swapping Immigration Detainees KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Myanmar are mulling over the possibility of implementing an exchange programme for immigration detainees, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein. He said there were currently around 1,000 Myanmar nationals at detention centres in this country. However, the number of Malaysian immigration detainees in Myanmar was not made available. "It'll help reduce the numbers in our detention camps and show a good relationship between Malaysia and Myanmar in relation to immigration and movement of workers in the region," he told reporters after receiving Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint (HE) here, today. About 257,000 Myanmar nationals had registered under the "6P" programme, of which 144,098 were illegals immigrants. The programme is a massive legalisation and amnesty exercise for illegal immigrants conducted by Malaysian authorities. "Since not all of them (Myanmar illegal immigants) will be employed, cooperation between both countries is important to ensure that the repatriation process runs smoothly," Hishammuddin said. Hishammuddin said Malaysia and Myanmar would establish a joint working committee to address immigration as well as crime-related issues involving the two countries. It is expected to hold its first meeting next week. Elaborating, the minister said Kuala Lumpur would cooperate closely with Myanmar to tackle cross-border crimes involving drugs, weapons and human trafficking. "The issue of fraudulent travel documents is also in our focus, with 46 cases involving Myanmar nationals detected last year as well as 13 cases up till August this year," Hishammuddin said. -- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=620444 ------------------------------------------ Arakanese join Karen rebel ambush By NAW NOREEN Published: 17 October 2011 Troops from the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA) based out of the western Burmese state are said to have been involved in an ambush on two Burmese army columns last week passing through territory claimed by Karen rebels. One Burmese soldier died in the attack, according to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which was joined by the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) and Arakanese rebels. Ties between Karen and Arakanese ethnic armies stretch back several decades to 1968, when the ALA's founding was aided by the Karen National Union, which over the subsequent decades trained its troops. But the involvement of Arakanese rebels in the recent fighting in Karen state has been kept quiet. The ambush took place on 15 October, according to Saw Three Two, a captain in the DKBA. "We launched the attack jointly with the students' army [ABSDF] and the Arakanese group. We didn't suffer any casualty. We stay inside our own territory and we have to shoot [Burmese troops] when they enter ours." The fighting comes despite a pledge by the government to begin peace talks with a number of ethnic armies in the country's border regions. Saw Three Two said that rather than President Thein Sein, the problem may lie with the army chief. "General Min Aung Hlaing is continuing with the offenses and we don't know who to trust so we might as well not trust them at all," he said. "We decided not to accept their proposal -- they said they would withdraw their forces on 15 October but instead they sent in more troops." Several armed groups, including the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Shan State Army (SSA), put their names to the creation of a United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), effectively an attempt to build a cohesive ethnic front against the Burmese military. Although the ALA is not part of the alliance, its forces are deployed along the Thai-Burma border and the length of the Arakan state border with Bangladesh and India. http://www.dvb.no/news/arakanese-join-karen-rebel-ambush/18217 __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (441)