News & Articles on Burma-Friday, 18 February, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Friday, 18 February, 2011
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Celebration of 'Chin National Day' Banned in Chin State
Japan wants to join with Thailand in Dawei project
The Lady Survives
Ethnic armies agree ‘ring of resistance’
Shan-Danu chosen as Chief Minister of Shan State
Mae Sot's Human Trafficking Crisis Worsens
Burmese troops offer to protect opium fields
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Celebration of 'Chin National Day' Banned in Chin State

18 February 2011: The military-turned-civilian authorities have banned using a banner that reads 'Chin National Day' for its official celebration on 20 February in Chin State, Burma, Chinland Guardian's sources revealed.

Instead, the Chin communities organising their National Day event this year are forced to put up a poster of 'Chin State Day' for celebrating the historic day in most cities and towns including Hakha, the capital of Chin State.

A Hakha local who participates in preparing the celebration said: "We have no choice but to follow the orders as we are told if we would like to have the celebration. As far as I could remember, it's happened like this at least for the past three consecutive years."

When asked the differences between the two days, veteran Chin Politician Pu Lian Uk told Chinland Guardian that Chin State Day is to derive from January 3rd or 4th on which the Chin territory was designated and proclaimed as Chin State in 1974 due to the constant demand of the Chin people to have a self-governing territory as a constituent State of the Union of Burma (UB).

The US-based elected MP of the 1990 General Election in Burma also remarked: "It is an insult to the Chin people and contempt of Panglong Agreement and the principles of democracy."

In other places including Tahan and Kalay Myo of Sagaing Division in Burma, Chin communities were claimed to have used 'Chin Cultural Festival' in attempts to avoid flagging 'Chin State Day' during their celebrations.

February 20, 2011 marks the 63rd anniversary of Chin National Day, which Chin communities outside Burma are to celebrate freely with a variety of Chin traditional rituals and performances in their respective residing cities and towns.

Chin political activist Salai Kipp Kho Lian said: "We abolished the ancient autocratic system of Chinland on the 20th February 1948 at a mass conference in Falam right after the Union of Burma gained Independence. In that sense, 20th February is marked as the day the political power in Chinland was handed over from autocratic rulers to the Chin people - the day the Chin people first enjoyed true freedom and democracy."

The first Chin National Day was held on 20 February 1951 in Mindat Town of Chin State where U Nu, the then Prime Minister of Burma and other ethnic ministers attended the official ceremony.

The question still remains unclear how the newly appointed civilian government of Chin State will address this issue which has been going on against the will of the Chin people under the previous military rules in Burma. http://www.chinlandguardian.com/news-2009/1200-celebration-of-chin-national-day-banned-in-chin-state.html
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Japan wants to join with Thailand in Dawei project
By Nalin Viboonchart
The Nation
Published on February 18, 2011

Japan sees a role for itself in Burma's Dawei Port industrial-estate project, particularly in financing, by joining with Thailand.
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"We're thinking about how Japan can contribute to the Dawei project. We will try to establish the bond market and stimulate the flow of money into this area," said Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation).

Japan is interested in developing the port, roads, infrastructure and even the upstream steel project as part of its policy to promote the Greater Mekong Subregion. It will seek cooperation from Thai companies, as the countries have had a long history together, Yonekura said.

The Dawei (Tavoy) project is a massive one in the region. Besides taking part in the development, Japan would like to finance the project. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation may get involved, he said.

Yonekura, who is also chairman of Sumitomo Chemical, said Japan had not yet negotiated with the Burmese government about participating in the project.

Keidanren visited Thailand for a few days and met with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij and Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai.

On Wednesday, it held talks with the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking on the topic "Deepening Economic Partnership: Towards Regional Connectivity".

Visit Limprana, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said Thailand wanted to collaborate with Japan in investing in infrastructure projects in neighbouring countries. For instance, if both countries could take part in road construction, it would help companies save on logistics costs when shipping to countries in the region.

"Many countries now look at Asia as an opportunity to invest. We encourage Japan to participate actively in Mekong/Asean connectivity," he said.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/02/18/business/Japan-wants-to-join-with-Thailand-in-Dawei-project-30148958.html
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The Lady Survives

By George H. Wittman on 2.18.11 @ 6:07AM

Aung San Suu Kyi's father was General Aung San, certainly still considered Burma's hero of independence. The route he took to gain that honor was not quite so glorious. The Japanese invaded Burma, a British colony, in World War II and Aung San soon became a leading collaborator. The Japanese did not provide the political independence they had originally promised, so Aung San re-defected to the British forces when they fought back from India. The war ended and the Burmese leader soon shifted back to being a rebel. The British departed and General Aung San gained a substantial part of the credit. Of course from his daughter's standpoint her dad was simply a committed patriot.

Aung San Suu Kyi left Burma when she was 14 years old and didn't return except for short periods for nearly thirty years. When she did visit, she was treated with deference. It was all quite natural. Suu Kyi was the daughter of the great general and all knew her and her heritage. The strikingly pretty child grew into a beautiful woman, a princess in manner. World traveled, educated at Oxford, married to a British scholar of Asian affairs, Suu Kyi edged into her forties an accomplished member of the extended post-colonial family of Britain's upper social echelon.

In 1988, at age 43, Suu Kyi returned to her homeland to be with her seriously ill mother, only to become embroiled in the democracy revolution of that year. She was placed under house arrest for her revolutionary involvement the following year. Her new life had begun as a political symbol and democracy movement leader marked by an eventual award of the Nobel peace prize.

Now after her most recent stint of seven years of house arrest, Suu Kyi is allowed to move about relatively freely, if still under loose surveillance. As yet she has not attempted to venture beyond the former capital city of Yangbon (Rangoon). Her term of house arrest ended conveniently after the November 2010 election, which satisfied the generals in command that their hold on the country was solid. Suu Kyi found that the national democratic movement from which she had been cut off for the last seven years had considerably changed.

As ageless as the Lady, as she is known to many, may appear, time has fragmented the democracy movement. She now finds that any central structure that previously had existed has divided both geographically and politically into small groups spread around Burma. The Lady's freedom has encouraged some of the remaining veterans of the past to hope for her once again to draw together the disparate elements of their movement, the National League for Democracy (NLD). So far she has remained unwilling or unable to return to her dynamism of the past. This suits the generals quite well.

One of the key factors in the change of the political environment has been the powerful impact of the transfer of the center of power from the former capital, Yangbon, to an entirely new capital at Naypayidaw, about 200 miles north of the old seat of governance. This is not merely a symbolic break with the past, but a physical rebalancing of the nation's political center. The Burmese leadership and their families now live there as do the now well-entrenched economic and political power brokers. The generals have constructed a new and not easily accessed physical political center. This protected enclave directs the affairs of the nation with the assistance of regional military, political, and tribal outposts.

Of equal importance in the growth and protection of current Burmese leadership is the improving economic environment that has come about through Chinese, Thai and Indian competition for development of industrial zones and other commercial projects such as the deep-water port at Dawei (aka Tavoy) on the Bay of Bengal. Pipeline construction from the Andaman Sea to Kunming for oil transshipment to China is another important political economic factor. Improving economic life of Burma tends to work against social revolution.

Pressure on Suu Kyi and the NLD is currently being applied by government sources to have them stay out of the argument of lifting international economic sanctions against Burma. The reality is that though the sanctions have little chance of being ended in the near future, these controls have done little to impede current investment from abroad. Suu Kyi so far has been hesitant to make a major issue of the sanctions, perhaps because she actually sees lifting them more positively than do her European and American supporters.

While in apparently excellent shape for a 65-year-old woman who has undergone so many years of incarceration and restriction, Aung San Suu Kyi no longer projects the dynamic energy that once was a mark of her political strength. Though she might term it a strategic outlook, Suu Kyi appears to be taking a longer view of democratic revolution since her release from house arrest three months ago. In any case, there appears to be little interest on her part in allowing herself to be maneuvered into a political game that would once again result in her imprisonment in any form.

The Lady has not lost her spirit or her patriotic verve, but the environment has changed in Burma over the last decade and she is well aware of that fact. Suu Kyi is restricted not only legally but by the tactical circumstance in which she finds herself. She remains a symbol of indomitable spirit for Burma and the rest of the world. The Lady has survived, and that in itself is a victory. http://spectator.org/archives/2011/02/18/the-lady-survives
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Ethnic armies agree ‘ring of resistance’
By HTET AUNG KYAW
Published: 18 February 2011

Twelve ethnic armed groups in Burma have agreed to an alliance they claim will see them collaborate in their struggle against the Burmese junta.

Around 50 representatives from a dozen groups, including several ceasefire armies, were present at the four-day talks along the Thai-Burma border this week.

Under the banner of the Union Nationalities Federal Council (Union of Burma), groups such as the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) will come together for the first time in their history.

“Whether armed or ceasefire, we are all uniting as one ethnic group,” said the Council’s newly appointed joint secretary–1, Khun Okkar. “We will try to find ways to solve the political problems via political means, whilst carrying out resistance together.

He said that the alliance had laid down a number of specific objectives, including official recognition of armed ethnic groups and their territory, and their role as protectors of Burma’s myriad ethnic peoples.

Burma’s border regions are home to some 135 different ethnic nationalities whom collectively are outnumbered by the Burman majority, which dominates the country’s government. More than 20 armed ethnic groups operate in these regions, some of whom have fought decades-long wars against the Burmese army.

One of the more prominent groups is the Karen National Union, which has also agreed to become part of the new Council. It’s commander-in-chief, Mutu Say Poe, was appointed chairman at the meeting, and will head a cabinet of six people, including members of the Pa-O National Organisation, the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Other groups included in the Council are the Chin National Front (CNF), Kachin National Organization (KNO), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), National Unity Party of Arakan (UNPA), Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), PaO National Liberation Organisation (PNLO) and the Wa National Organisation (WNO).
http://www.dvb.no/news/ethnic-armies-agree-%E2%80%98ring-of-resistance%E2%80%99/14330
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Shan-Danu chosen as Chief Minister of Shan State
Friday, 18 February 2011 16:56 S.H.A.N.

Naypyitaw may have made the right decision when they chose a man approachable for all and sundry as Shan State’s chief minister on 15 February, according to sources coming from the state capital Taunggyi.

[(Photo: myanmar.com)]

(Photo: myanmar.com)
Sao Aung Myat, 47, Shan-Danu, is a scion of the former princely Pwela House. He had served as commander of several battalions: IB 14, IB 228 and IB 242 before he retired last year to enter politics under Naypyitaw’s proxy party ticket.

“He appears to be very friendly and approachable,” said an elected representative of the Shan State Assembly. “He is not arrogant and speaks fairly good Shan.”

A representative of the White Tiger, the popular name for Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the second largest winning party in Shan State, said, “We don’t think he’ll be difficult to work with.”

Still, it won’t be plain sailing for the people of Shan State, remarks a source from Taunggyi.

The junta backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) “won” 54 out of 143 seats for the state assembly. Adding the 25% quota for the military, it has the largest seats: 90. The SNDP (31 seats) and others make up the rest. They are:

PaO National Organization (PNO) 6 seats

Ta-ang National Party (TNP) 4 seats

Inn National Development Party (INDP) 3 seats

Wa Democratic Party (WDP) 3 seats

Kayan National Party (KNP) 2 seats

National Unity Party (NUP) 1 seat

Lahu National Development Party (LNDP) 1 seat

Independent 2 seats
http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3472:shan-danu-chosen-as-chief-minister-of-shan-state&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266
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Mae Sot's Human Trafficking Crisis Worsens
By ALEX ELLGEE Friday, February 18, 2011

MAE SOT—Aung Khine was 11 years old when his father passed away. His father had worked as a carpenter to provide for his mother and two little sisters. Now without their father’s support, the family was facing serious problems.

At the same time, a friend of the family returned from Mae Sot where he had been working in a factory. The friend had saved up enough money to repair his home’s broken roof and provide good food.

“My mother didn’t want me to go, but we had no choice,” Aung Khine told The Irrawaddy.

“We live in a really poor area in Mon State and at the time we were struggling to eat more than once a day,” he said.

In the local town, he says it wasn’t hard to find a broker—or carrier as the Burmese call them—who would take him to Thailand. Aung Khine says a middle-aged Mon man at the local market promised a safe trip to Thailand and a guaranteed job at the end.

In return for his services Aung Khine had to pay the man 95,000 [US $95], a fee they could not afford. It was fine though, the broker said, he could pay him back slowly when he started working.

“At the time I was so excited. I always heard Thailand was a great country and expected I would find a great life and a job to help my poor family,” said Aung Khine.

He was placed on a bus with a group of Burmese children and they made their way with the broker to the Thai-Burmese border. They waited till night and then sneaked across the river on small boats.

Aung Khine said he remembers two Thai men entering the dark room where the children were huddled and handing over money to the Burmese broker. “The last thing the carrier said to me was to make sure I do what the men tell me.”

Almost immediately Aung Khine was taken to a factory outside of Mae Sot where he was kept in prison-like conditions.

“We were never allowed out in six months. We could only go into the small garden behind the living quarters,” Aung Khine said. “The owner beat us and never paid us for our work. He said he paid for our travel costs so we had to work to pay him back.”

When the Thai owner had finished his order, the children were sold on to another factory where they lived in similar conditions. Two months in, the kids couldn’t take it any more, and they made a plan to escape in the night. They succeeded.

Aung Khine’s case is very similar to that of the thousands of other Burmese children and adults who head to Mae Sot with dreams of better lives, only to be trafficked into exploitative and slave-like conditions.

According to Moe Swe, the Mae Sot-based director of Yaung Ci Oo Workers Association, the lack of protection for Burmese migrant workers has resulted in an ever-growing group of vulnerable people.

“There is a lack of protection for migrant workers and the system for them to register is still weak,” he told The Irrawaddy. “As a result, many migrants come to Mae Sot illegally, which makes it easy for traffickers and employers to exploit them.”

As an increasing number of Burmese flee economic woes and instability in eastern Burma, a growing number of traffickers are arriving in Mae Sot to prey on the vulnerable.

“We are definitely seeing an increase in the amount of trafficking and traffickers in and around Mae Sot,” says Khun Mink, the coordinator of the Mae Sot branch of the Thai NGO, Foundation for Women (FFW).

The NGO has been running for more than 30 years and has dealt with hundreds if not thousands of human trafficking cases. Seeing a growing problem in Mae Sot, the NGO recently decided to set up an office on the border to deal with the problem.

“Before, we were based in Bangkok and worked hard to reduce trafficking in the region, but we felt we had to come up here urgently – Mae Sot is the first step for most trafficking in the region,” she said.

Since FFW opened its Centre for Trafficked Women and Children in Mae Sot the group has seen a steady flow of victims come in and out of their shelter—victims who had not only been trafficked around Mae Sot, but ended up further afield.

According to Sophia Naing who runs the FFW shelter, a lack of education in the communities is the biggest problem.

“In order to prevent trafficking from increasing any further, there needs to be a dramatic rise in anti-trafficking education provided to the communities by NGOs and governments,” she told The Irrawaddy while attending to several infants.

“So many poor families are happy to send their children off to work in Thailand because they don’t know the risks and dangers of trafficking—if we can increase awareness then families will be more careful about brokers who prey on the poor inside Burma,” she said. “This can also be done by giving victims the courage to go back to their community and share their experience.”

The family of Ma Thiri, a young girl who recently arrived at the FFW shelter, apparently did not know the risks of sending their daughter to Thailand. When a broker came to their home offering to take Ma Thiri for free, they jumped at the opportunity.

“My mother is just an alcohol brewer,” Ma Thiri said. “We are very poor. So I was excited to go to Thailand. I wanted to be like the rich and beautiful Thai girls on TV.”

At first she worked as a housemaid, but her employer’s husband did not like her, so she was told to find another job. At her next job, her employer did not pay her for three months then told her that she had to leave and work in a massage parlor.

“I didn’t know what a massage parlor was—I asked her what it was, but she just shouted at me saying, 'Work is work!'” said Ma Thiri.

She says at first she was reluctant to go, but eventually gave in because the employer said she wouldn’t get any money if she didn’t go and work. When she arrived at the massage parlor, aged 17, Ma Thiri and another young girl were ordered to go and visit a Chinese man every day and provide sexual services.

After the 10th visit, Ma Thiri’s friend couldn’t take it anymore and committed suicide. When the police arrived, Ma Thiri was taken back to Mae Sot and eventually rescued by FFW.

“If I had known how dangerous Mae Sot is, I never would have come here,” she said.

In order to break the cycle and prevent victims being re-trafficked, the FFW provides counseling—a “loving environment”—in the safe house, as well as vocational skills. The staff said their aim is to stop the women from being vulnerable to traffickers.

“If we train them so they can stand on their own two feet and earn an income then this will reduce the amount of trafficking,” said Khun Mink. “They will not need to travel and be exploited, and will be able to go back to their communities and inform others about the dangers of being trafficked.”

But a lack of education and training is not the only obstacle to solving the growing trafficking crisis in Mae Sot.

According to Khun Mink there needs to be a major shift in the way the police think about trafficking. For many of the immigration and police officials, trafficking is big business as they often receive bribes to clear cars at checkpoints or are actually involved in organizing the trafficking themselves.

“This is partly due to low salaries,” said Khun Mink. “So we need to see an increase in salaries for police, and technology being provided so they can track the cases.

“We need to see reform … not just a reform in the police service, but a revolution. And a complete change of mentality how they look at this issue,” she said.

Khun Mink said she has noticed a young generation of policemen who are more interested and helpful in the struggle against anti-human trafficking. She said there has also been a shift in the legal paradigm, with Thai courts punishing Burmese traffickers more heavily than before.

However, according to a former people smuggler, a Burmese man born in Myawaddy, the Thai police are so involved in the trafficking in Mae Sot that it will take years to stop the practice. He recently gave up his trafficking work after a car he sent to Bangkok with Burmese in the back had an accident killing several of the passengers.

“We used to pay the police 20,000 baht [$600] per month to leave us alone,” he said. “Some traffickers pay per trip, some split the profits with the police. We always did it like this. It is true the police are involved at every step.

“We cannot just blame the Thais though,” he added. “Burmese people are also involved in the trafficking gangs. Also, the Burmese government is to blame for messing up the economy. That is why they are all coming here.”

Just last week, the Thai minister in charge of anti-human trafficking visited Mae Sot for an anti-trafficking concert. A massive platform was erected and famous singers flown in from Bangkok and Rangoon.

But the NGO stalls were pushed to the side with little attention being paid to their work. The main focus was on the performances. With so many people in Mae Sot suffering as a result of trafficking, the money probably could have been better spent.

“It doesn’t help if we just do concerts, we need real action,” said one young anti-trafficking activist standing at the edge of the concert. “Both Thailand and Burma need to wake up and realize that this will be a regional crisis if we don’t act now.”
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20785
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Burmese troops offer to protect opium fields
Thursday, 17 February 2011 21:31 KNG

Over a hundred Burmese troops stationed around opium fields in Burma’s northern Kachin State are offering protection to growers against attempts by the Kachin Independence Organization to eradicate crops, according to local sources.

Local sources said the Burmese troops told the villagers the fields will be destroyed by the KIO if they do not protect them.
opium_eradication_kachin

A KIA soldier is destroying opium plants in Sadung area in Waingmaw Township, Burma's Northern Kachin State. Photo: Kachin News Group

The Burmese troops arrived recently in Sadung Region, in Waingmaw Township, which is controlled by the Burmese Army’s Border Guard Force. It is the largest opium cultivating area in Kachin State, locals said.

Currently, there are over 60 Burmese troops from Light Infantry Battalion No. 321, based in Shwenyaungbin, in Waingmaw Township and over 30 troops from Infantry Battalion No. 298, based in Dawngpan, in Danai Township, in the area, as well as police and government personnel, said sources close to the Burmese troops.

Opium growers said the fields would not be destroyed by the KIO if they pay cash to the Burmese troops. So, some opium growers are busy raising money to pay the Burmese troops, the sources added.

This is mainly happening in the opium cultivating areas near villages like Nga Pyaw, Kungmai and Masa, which are under control of the BGF which was the former New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), said sources from three villages.

Sadung Region is controlled by both the Burmese junta and the KIO. It is the largest opium producing area in Kachin State annually.

The KIO Drug Eradication Mission has prevented farmers from cultivating opium on over 6,000 acres this year, according to the KIO’s Central Drug Eradication Committee.

The KIO launched its War against Drugs in October last year. The fist mission was initiated in the KIO controlled areas in Kachin State, including Sadung Region and Northern Shan State.

Naw Bu, Spokesperson for the KIO’s Drug Eradication Committee based in its Laiza headquarters, in eastern Kachin state, told the Kachin News Group, the Burmese military offered to co-operate with the KIO in the drug eradication mission.

The junta’s offer was accepted in principal by the KIO, but the KIO decided to work alone, Naw Bu added.

Kachin State has the highest incidence of drug addiction in Burma.

The KIO and Kachin leaders have accused the Burmese regime of escalating the drug problem to harm Kachin youths.
http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1859-burmese-troops-offer-to-protect-opium-fields.html

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