News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 19 July, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 19 July, 2011
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Burma's Suu Kyi pays tribute to father
Suu Kyi defends negotiation tactics
Letter from Burma: Holiday (1)
ASEAN gives Myanmar chairmanship bid "positive consideration"
Burmese Army Launches Major Offensive in Shan State
The River With a Damned Future
Journalists warned on exile contacts
Thai army helicopter crashes in Burma
Burmese officials captured by Kachin army
ASEAN must respect the ASEAN Charter
China Ignores Own Irrawaddy Dam Study
Phuket: Arrested Boatload of 44 Burmese,
Burma lifts import ban on 15 Thai products
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Burma's Suu Kyi pays tribute to father
By Hla Hla Htay, AAP July 19, 2011, 10:22 pm

Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi led supporters in memorials for her father on Tuesday.

Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi led hundreds of supporters in memorials for her father, the country's independence hero General Aung San, after being permitted to attend the ceremony for the first time since 2002.

Large crowds gathered on Tuesday outside Suu Kyi's party headquarters in the main city of Rangoon, and many followed her as the 66-year-old made her way to the Martyrs' Memorial.

Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest after controversial elections last November, last attended the remembrance ceremony nine years ago, before her latest stint under detention began.

Her invitation to the event came shortly after she tested the boundaries of her freedom with her first trip outside Rangoon since her release, a four-day visit to the ancient city of Bagan.

Wearing a white blouse and a traditional black wrapped skirt, known as a longyi, she visited the memorial twice, including a brief appearance at an official ceremony attended by government officials and soldiers.

After laying flowers at the memorial which marks the assassination of her father and several other independence leaders on July 19, 1947, she met Western diplomats at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD).

Plainclothes police took pictures of the crowds gathered there, but officials allowed hundreds of them to pass through checkpoints and continue to the memorial as Suu Kyi returned there, accompanied by NLD figures.

The NLD, which won a landslide election victory two decades ago that was never recognised by the junta, was disbanded by the military rulers last year because it boycotted the November vote, saying the rules were unfair.

Part of Suu Kyi's potency as a democracy campaigner for political freedom stems from Burma's reverence for her father, who is widely loved for his role in securing independence from the British.

However, he died a year before seeing the colonial rulers finally depart, and the country was soon plunged into nearly half a century of military rule from 1962.

"The struggle for the establishment of a new democratic state was hurt because Bogyoke (General) Aung San and the martyrs were assassinated," said a statement released by the NLD.

It vowed to continue to press for true democracy and renewed calls to free all political prisoners, but added that "settlement through armed struggle could not be beneficial for the future of the country".

Suu Kyi refrained from any overt political activities that might have antagonised the military-dominated government during her four-day excursion to Bagan earlier this month.
She has spent much of the past 20 years as a prisoner in her crumbling lakeside mansion and some observers believe the new government would have no qualms about limiting her freedom again if she was perceived as a threat.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/9875908/burmas-suu-kyi-pays-tribute-to-father/
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Suu Kyi defends negotiation tactics
Zoe Daniel reported this story on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 08:18:00
Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes)

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TONY EASTLEY: Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has rejected criticism that she's out of touch with the ordinary Burmese.

Since she was released from house arrest late last year some critics have questioned her policy of attempting to engage with the country's government.

In an exclusive interview with the ABC's 'Foreign Correspondent' program, Aung San Suu Kyi says she's always believed negotiation was the best way to achieve change.

She spoke with our Southeast Asia correspondent, Zoe Daniel, at her home in Rangoon.

TONY EASTLEY: You can see and hear more of Aung San Suu Kyi in Zoe Daniel's report on Burma, tonight on Foreign Correspondent at 8 O'clock on ABC .

AUNG SAN SUU KYI: I don't think my approach has changed at all, we've always wanted to engage with the government. And I sometimes am surprised at what people will come out with, because, this is partly of course due to the fact that communications have been very poor in the past. So people would distort what we were saying or what we were doing and a lot of what they said we said was pure speculation.

Now, with the improvement in communications people are able to find out exactly what it is that we want to say because, well, I can have interviews with you. I have better access to the outside world.

So I think that is the difference, rather than any change in our stance, because we've always said the only way we want to go forward is the way of negotiation, the way of meeting, finding common ground, talking to each other, coming to a political settlement.

ZOE DANIEL: Is it inevitable, though, because of the simple fact that you've been under house arrest for so long, that you are, to an extent, out of touch with their, their mere existence, their struggle?

AUNG SAN SUU KYI: I think it's our struggle as much as theirs. So I don't think the fact that I have been under house arrest removes me from the struggle. In fact I think those that are under arrest have to struggle a lot more in some ways. So I don't think we are at all removed or separated from the struggle, it's a struggle taking place in a different way.

ZOE DANIEL: Australia has some limited, quite targeted sanctions; how would you feel about Australia using that as leverage, for example, to say 'well, in order to lift those sanctions we want the political prisoners released'. I mean, is it a useful bargaining chip?

AUNG SAN SUU KYI: I think so. I think it's much better to have very, very clear targets. I do not think it's really very reasonable to just say 'we want an improvement in human rights, in your human rights record', it's too vague. But if Australia, and other countries, were to work in accordance with United Nations Human Rights Council resolution and pick out some of the more important demands there - the release of political prisoners, the inclusion of all in the political process, rule of law and so on - pick out the most important points and say 'well, if you want sanctions removed, you've got to do these.'

I think it's much better for everybody all around to understand exactly what those who have imposed sanctions are trying to achieve.

ZOE DANIEL: Do you find it frustrating that you, well I say you can't leave the country, but I suppose you can, but you may not be able to return; I mean is that a source of frustration for you, not to be able to take your message out, to have to try and get it out through other means?

AUNG SAN SUU KYI: No, because after all I can get out my message. It's not the same as going of course, but I'm not frustrated by it. I mean you've got to remember that I've been under house arrest for 15 of the last 20 years and I've discovered that I'm really not a gadabout (laughs).

ZOE DANIEL: (Laughs).

AUNG SAN SUU KYI: I don't get frustrated because I can't go out. I can read, I can listen to the radio. The only thing that used to bother me was when I felt that I should be outside helping my colleagues and friends when there were difficult times.

TONY EASTLEY: And you can see that report on ABC1 tonight.

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Perspectives
Letter from Burma: Holiday (1)
(By Aung San Suu Kyi)
(Mainichi Japan) July 19, 2011

For many years now, holidays for me have been memory snapshots of past events, vivid but distant.

The Himalayas: riding up and up a mountain path through lichen festooned forests on the back of a stately mule with seductively long lashes; sitting down on a grassy slope looking down at misty, shadowy lands, eating a lunch of hard boiled eggs and parched rice; wandering from Buddhist monasteries to Hindu temples in Kathmandu, then ending up in a small coffee shop famous for its American brownies; shooting the rapids on a raft; sighting a tiger from the back of an elephant while munching sour Indian gooseberries plucked from wild bushes; watching an enactment of the dance of death performed with mesmerizing slow steps by Tibetan monks in the North East Frontier Area of India. In a schloss overlooking a Swiss lake, enjoying delicious food of which the daily highlight was homemade rosehip jam for tea. On a canal boat meandering along the waterways of England, family dog perched on the roof, surveying the green views with absolute serenity. Camping on the empty sands of Tiree with the wide Scots gray ocean stretching away to where a few seals played.

The images are amazingly full of life and color but there is a quality of unreality about each and every one. It was therefore unsurprising that when my son Htein Lin (Kim) arrived on my birthday in June and said he was going to take me away on a holiday it seemed to me a somewhat unreal proposition.

After some discussion and thought however, I decided that a short holiday, the first in more than 20 years, was not unreasonable. So we set about planning. With the full force of the monsoons at play the choice of the central region of the country, the 'dry zone,' was a practical one. There was Mandalay from which the last king of Burma had been removed by British troops in the late 19th century. Or there was Pagan, the ancient capital where some thousand pagodas remain as witness to long vanished glory and raise tantalizing questions as to the driving force behind such a manifestation of excess construction energy: was it piety or prosperity or pride or various combinations of the three?

Pagan was the choice we made without any difficulty. The many temples and stupas of the old city attract both tourists and pilgrims but during this time of year there would be few visitors and we could enjoy some days of peace and rest. Since this would not be the first visit to Pagan for either of us, we did not intend to go around many of the religious monuments, we would only go to the places that had a special significance for me. The most important thing was to find a place where Kim and I and our dog Taichito (there was no question of leaving him behind if this was to be a family holiday) could be happy and comfortable. The ideal place was found for us by U Khun Tha Myint. I shall have to make a small diversion here.

U Khun Tha Myint is the younger brother of U Han Tha Myint, a member of the Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, who was elected as the representative of the town of Butalin in the general elections of 1990 with an overwhelming 80 percent of the votes cast. Ko Han Tha and Ko Khun Tha's father and my father became friends and associates when they started the politicization of the Rangoon University Students' Union in the 1930s. The politics of U Thein Pe Myint and my father were not always in harmony and it could be said that toward the last phase of the independence movement they were more adversaries than friends.

Yet they both left behind a legacy of respect for differing views and of freedom from prejudice and resentment that has enabled us, their progeny, to work together as colleagues and comrades bound together by shared values and, not to be underrated, a shared sense of humor.

Ko Khun Tha came forward to help me when I was in Insein Jail in 2009 and in need of an architect to undertake the proposed renovations to my house. After I was transferred from jail to house arrest the work on the house started and Ko Khun Tha, as architect, and two other friends, Ko Htin Kyaw and Ko Ni, as my appointed representative and my general supervisor, came daily over the months necessary to complete the renovations. Ko Htin Kyaw and Ko Ni too are connected to me through our respective fathers who had known one another at Rangoon University. I shall write more about the sons and fathers (and mothers) another time but suffice it to say here that as a result of these old ties I have been blessed with assistance, help and friendship. Ko Khun Tha who started out as my architect has been obliged, willy-nilly, to take on the responsibilities of security officer, dog trainer, emergency driver and, during the last fortnight, travel agent and holiday organizer.

Ko Khun Tha's choice of the Bagan Hotel for our group (there were 16 of us) could not have been happier. It is within easy reach of some of the most famous historical and religious monuments, it is a place of comfort and beauty and, most important of all, the staff are courteous and well-trained and possess a special talent for making guests feel truly welcome and cherished.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110719p2a00m0na002000c.html
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ASEAN gives Myanmar chairmanship bid "positive consideration"

Jul 19, 2011, 11:52 GMT

Bali Island, Indonesia - The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) may agree to allow Myanmar, often criticized for its human rights record, to chair the group in 2014, Indonesia said Tuesday.

'We heard Myanmar's expression of willingness and readiness to chair ASEAN for 2014,' Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said after a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers.

'We are positively considering this,' he said.

In November Myanmar released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after years of house arrest and held an election after nearly four decades of military rule.

But the party that won is pro-military and made up of former members of the military. Human rights groups called the election a sham and charged the new rulers have done nothing to improve the country's poor human rights record.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1651964.php/ASEAN-gives-Myanmar-chairmanship-bid-positive-consideration
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Burmese Army Launches Major Offensive in Shan State
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Burmese Army is launching a major offensive against the Shan State Army (SSA), in a conflict that has already affected about 30 villages in northern and central Shan State, according to SSA sources.

The Burmese troops will soon overrun the armed group's headquarters in Wan Hai, Mong Hsu Township, said Col Sai Htoo, the assistant secretary general of the SSA's political wing, the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), which is also located in Wan Hai.

Around 300 local people have fled the area and schools have also been shut as fighting intensifies. Most residents have moved to urban areas, and teachers were instructed on Tuesday morning to return to Lashio, the capital of northern Shan State, said Sai Htoo.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Sai Htoo said that the SSA, formerly known as the Shan State Army-North and led by Col Pang Fa, expected to lose control of its headquarters in the very near future.

“The commander of the [Burmese Army's] Northeast Military Command is now at the front line commanding his troops and battalions. There is an 80 percent chance that we will lose our headquarters very soon, but we will continue fighting using guerrilla warfare.”

Yesterday, skirmishes between the two sides brought the fighting closer to Wan Hai, with Burmese troops using artillery against the Shan troops until later Monday evening, according to local resident Sai Aung.

Last week fighting was reported every day in Kye-thi-Marn Sam Township, especially around Doi Sai, a mountain around 16 km (10 miles) from Wan Hai and a key location on the SSA's line of defense. According to Sai Htoo, Burmese Army troops have been ordered to seize Wan Hai within seven days.

Burmese battalions under the control of the Northeastern Military Command are coordinating their attacks against the Shan troops with Burmese Army battalions from Military Operation Commands 1 and 2, which are based in Kyaukme and Mong Naung, respectively, and include artillery battalions.

A spokesperson for the SSA/SSPP said that the combined strength of the Burmese Army battalions engaged in the offensive is around 1,500 troops, while the SSA has about 1,000 troops in Wan Hai.

Although sources said that there have been numerous casualties among both the Burmese and Shan troops, no further details were available. Injured Burmese troops were reportedly evacuated from the area to major cities with helicopters from Nam Hsan Air Force Base.

The SSPP/SSA, a former ceasefire armed group, declared in May that it was now cooperating with the former Shan State Army-South, led by Lt-Gen Yawd Serk. The two groups have now united under the banner of the SSA. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21717
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The River With a Damned Future
By SEIN HTAY Tuesday, July 19, 2011

MYITKYINA, Kachin State—Myitsone, the confluence of Maykha and Malikha rivers around 46 km north of Myitkyina, is very important not only to the Kachin people, who consider it the birthplace of their culture, but also for the whole of Burma.

It is the source of the Irrawaddy River, which flows through the country from north to south until it reaches the Andaman Sea. The river itself is a vital lifeline that has supported those who live along its length for centuries.

However, the Burmese government has other plans for the development of Myitsone. Together with China’s state-owned Chinese Power Investment Corporation, the new military-backed civilian administration is planning to build the country’s largest dam—the 15th largest in the world—at Myitsone.

The dam will produce hydropower to be sold to China, earning around US $500 million annually. Once the dam is in operation, the Myitsone area will be totally flooded, and all the beauty and cultural significance associated with it will be lost forever.

Fearing the immense cultural and environmental impact of this project, including the dire consequences it could have for biodiversity in this relatively unspoiled area, local people and civil society groups have been protesting, but to no avail. The government is not listening.

That is why I decided to return while there was still the chance, as there was no way of telling whether Myitsone would exist as I remembered it ever again.

Although my trip was to enjoy Myitsone’s beauty while it lasted, now my heart has grown heavy from listening to people’s complaints and seeing with my own eyes how the confluence is already well on its way to destruction.

On our travels, we occasionally stopped to discuss the dam with local people and to ask what they hoped for from the new government formed after last year’s election. Most had little to say about the latter subject, but were clearly unhappy about the dam and worried about what life would be like in the area where they will be relocated.

I mentioned to my friend how sad it was that the Kachin people were losing an important part of their heritage. But he pointed out that this was nothing new. The government has long exploited Kachin State, giving its people very little in return. And it is not just the Burmese government that is doing all the damage.

“Our state is being hungrily eaten by the Chinese government too,” my friend said.

He went on to explain how Burma’s rulers and their cronies collaborate with the Chinese government and their state-owned companies to take teak, gems, gold and electricity out of Kachin State for their own profit, but have done very little for the development of the region.

The state’s infrastructure is still rudimentary, and even travel to the capital is an ordeal. The train from Mandalay to Myitkyina takes around 24 hours along a rickety track. It sways and bumps the whole way, forcing you to hold on tight to your seat. Even so, tickets are hard to get, especially for first class seats, which are mostly taken by railway officials and the police for sale on the black market.

Travel by bus is even worse. The trip takes around 40 backbreaking hours from Mandalay, and can only be done in the dry season. The only comfortable and reliable way to reach Myitkyina is by air, which is the means of transportation recommended by most tour companies. But for the vast majority of local people, this option is completely unaffordable.

This lack of proper infrastructure, combined with government restrictions, has done much to discourage travel to the state.

This piece is a summary of a travel article that appears in The Irrawaddy’s latest e-magazine. To read the full version visit: http://issuu.com/irrawaddy/docs/irr_vol.19no2_june2011_issuu/4?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed

http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21716
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Journalists warned on exile contacts
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 19 July 2011

Burmese journalists have been told by a senior government minister not to pass information to exiled media outlets whom he claims are tarnishing perceptions among the public of the Thein Sein administration.

The warning came on 16 July during a meeting between Myint Swe, Rangoon division cabinet minister, and local reporters. The meetings had originally been slated as monthly events, but Myint Swe said that the problems caused by details being sent to non-state media groups may scupper this.

As part of the new government’s attempts to shed its maligned reputation surrounding the treatment of media workers in Burma, and to project an image of transparency, it announced earlier this year that regular press conferences would be held in the former capital.

These however have met with little success – a number of senior Rangoon editors are believed to have boycotted the meetings, claiming that they were being used by the government to circulate propagandist reports. Moreover, domestic journalists appear to have quietly rejected official demands not to pass the contents of the meetings to exile groups, like DVB.

“The outside media is being provided with information by someone attending the meetings – it could be no one else but someone in here,” said Myint Swe. A soundbite of his speech was passed to DVB by a source at the 16 July meeting.

“[The exile media] is not allowed to attend these meetings and those of you being allowed to attend should contemplate this. If we hold these meetings more often, then there will be more reports by [the exile media]. That is why we are now not holding them often.”

He said that “erroneous” accounts of the meetings broadcast by non-state groups were “made with either deliberate intentions or pure misunderstanding”, adding that it could “cause misunderstanding by the public regarding us [the government]”, as well as wrong perceptions in Naypyidaw of regional officials.

The Rangoon cabinet has so far held three such meetings: around 60 media publications attended the first meeting on 10 May, around 40 on 17 May, and only 28 on 16 July.

A number of exile Burmese media groups exist, including The Irrawaddy Magazine, Mizzima and Shan Herald Agency for News, mainly operating out of Thailand but feeding information back into Burma. The BBC, Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) also broadcast daily news into Burma via satellite television and shortwave radio.

A space is reserved on the back page of the New Light of Myanmar daily newspaper accusing the BBC and VOA of “sowing hatred among the people”, and RFA and DVB of “generating public outrage”.
http://www.dvb.no/news/journalists-warned-on-exile-contacts/16613
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Thai army helicopter crashes in Burma
By DVB
Published: 19 July 2011

A Thai helicopter carrying nine people, including a senior army commander, crashed inside Burma this morning, the Bangkok Post has reported.

The Blackhawk helicopter was reportedly on a mission to retrieve the bodies of five Thai troops who died in a helicopter crash on Saturday last week in Ratchaburi province, which lies alongside the Burma border next to Tenasserim division.

Details on casualities from today’s incident have not been released.

Among those on board was Maj-Gen Tawan Ruangsri, commander of the Thai army’s 9th Infantry Division, and two journalists, the Bangkok Post said. The remaining are thought to have been military personnel.

The crash on Saturday last week occurred half a mile from the Burmese border. The helicopter, tasked with anti-logging operations in the Kaeng Krachan National Park, went down in poor weather.
http://www.dvb.no/news/thai-army-helicopter-crashes-in-burma/16619
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Burmese officials captured by Kachin army
By DVB
Published: 18 July 2011

Two Burmese army officials and three soldiers have been captured by the insurgent Kachin Independence Army (KIA) following two days of heavy fighting in northern Burma.

At the weekend a key highway linking Bhamo town to the Kachin state capital of Mytikyina was engulfed in a series of fire-fights after a truck carrying Burmese soldiers was stopped by Kachin troops.

The fight continued into Sunday when the KIA captured the five during an ambush. “They were found hiding in a drain after being pinned down in the [16 July] fight,” said a KIA source. “They were three privates and two officials – a sergeant and a captain.”

They are now in the group’s headquarters in Laiza, and no details have been given on their identity.

The capturing of troops has been a common tactic of both sides since heavy fighting broke out in Kachin state in June, but sometimes with grisly results: on 12 June the corpse of a captured KIA solider was returned displaying signs of torture, despite what the group had claimed was an agreement to exchange hostages unharmed.

The KIA claims the five men are being treated well in Laiza, but no independent verification of their condition can be obtained.

Thousands of ethnic Kachin have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of fighting, which was triggered by the KIA’s refusal to transform into a government-controlled Border Guard Force.

Large areas of Kachin state have also been brought to a standstill – buses are refusing to travel along the Bhamo-Myitkyina highway, and locals report of being stranded away from their homes.
http://www.dvb.no/news/burmese-officials-captured-by-kachin-army/16609
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ASEAN must respect the ASEAN Charter to consider Burma for its chair in 2014
Tue, 2011-07-19 00:50 — editor
By - Zin Linn

The new military-backed civilian government of Burma is still in a vicious circle to gain ASEAN’s backing for the 2014 chairmanship. If ASEAN endorsed Burma’s chairmanship of the group, it would unquestionably dishonor the name of the regional bloc. Burma under the former military junta missed a chance its turn as chair of ASEAN in 2006, because of strong international disapproval led by Western countries.

In 2004 August, activists in the ASEAN region launched an international campaign calling for Burma to be disqualified from chairing the regional bloc in 2006, saying it would affects the grouping’s credibility and reputation.

At that juncture, a delegation led by Dr Gothom Ariya, the then secretary-general of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) presented Thai Foreign Ministry officials an open letter with signatures by organizations from the region, East Asia, Europe and North America. Copies of the letter addressed to respective ASEAN governments were delivered by a group of activists to member nations’ embassies in Bangkok.

The Then activists underlined the ASEAN diplomats in Bangkok, a very important report – ‘A Licence to Rape’ – released in 2002 by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN). It described comprehensively the use of rape or shameful maneuver by the Burmese armed forces. The allegations were scrutinized and confirmed by International organizations and foreign governments that using rape as weapon truly was taking place. As the report exposed concrete evidences, the junta’s denial failed.

Furthermore, the activists also explained about the most atrocious chapter of contemporary Burmese history or the latest assassination attempt by the Burmese military junta on the pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi – leader of the National League of Democracy (NLD) and her entourage at Dapeyin on 30 May 2003. Burmese troops and government sponsored goons and thugs attacked the NLD motorcade led by Aung San Suu Kyi who fortunately survived with injuries, subsequently arrested and put under house arrest.

The officials from the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon visited the site of the May 30 violent attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters and told that there was a premeditated ambush on the Lady’s motorcade. Circumstances and reports from local residents around Dapeyin indicated that the regime-backed thugs conducted the attack.

As a result, Burma lost its opportunity of becoming chairman of the ASEAN in 2006 due to tough international condemnation.

Now, another chance for Burma comes out once more in 2014. Senior diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to think about international opinion when they decide on whether to allow Burma to chair the regional grouping by 2014.

“We live, interact, synergize and benefit from our relationship with the (rest of the) world. Certainly we will be open to hear their sentiments,” Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN secretary-general, told reporters Jakarta on 13 July, as said by Ria Rose Uro (Interaksyon.com).

He highlighted that “ASEAN is where it is (today) because of the goodwill of dialogue partners.”

The secretary-general is attending the ministerial meetings which will run from July 15 to 23. Consideration of the matter is with the foreign ministers meeting (FMM). Earlier, Indonesian parliamentarian Eva Kusuma Sundari, president of the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar (AIPMC), warned about the potential backlash from Western governments should Burma (Myanmar) take over ASEAN’s chairmanship.

Sundari said that based on their interactions with government officials in Australia, the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), the would-be impact “will not be good for ASEAN as a whole.”

“You cannot help it. These governments still look at Aung San Suu Kyi as the icon of democracy in Myanmar,” she stressed.

However, most important point to put into consideration for Burma is no other than its human rights record. Human Rights Watch pointed out in its 6 May Statement that Burma has failed to address concerns repeatedly raised by ASEAN leaders in the past summits.

“Rewarding Burma with ASEAN’s chairmanship after it staged sham elections and still holds 2,000 political prisoners would be an embarrassment for the region,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The Kachin Women’s Association Thiailand (KWAT) released a press statement on 21 June denouncing the Burmese government’s armed forces for using of rape as a weapon of war in northern Burma offensive.

According to the press release, at least 18 women and girls were gang raped by Burmese soldiers; four of whom were killed after being raped. The soldiers killed three girls and raped a woman in front of her husband, who was then forced to work for them. In the frontline areas, Burmese soldiers are committing crimes freely as there are no effective or appropriate penalties in place by their senior officers.

A press release has been delivered on 14 July by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) condemning Burma Army of using rape as war weapon. The Burma Army is clearly authorizing rape as a terror policy in its offensive against the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), according to information documented by SWAN and SHRF.

In such a situation, ASEAN must consider very thoughtfully to allow Burma at its chair in order to avoid the grouping’s ethical standard. Neglecting Burma’s continuous violation of human rights, ASEAN should not offer its chairmanship to an unclean member like Burma.

Looking at the facts on the ground in Burma, there are more military attacks in the ethnic minority areas, more rape-cases as a terror policy, more forced labor, more child soldiers, more political prisoners, more refugees, more abuses of law, more restrictions toward media, more control on Internet users and civil societies.

In a word, while dealing with the Burma question, ASEAN must stand for the ASEAN Charter that specifies the loyalty “to the principles of democracy, the rule of law and good governance, respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms”.

Hence, ASEAN needs to be very cautious and to put more pressure on Burma until the essential benchmarks for chairmanship are carried out before 2014. It will be better for ASEAN to support a UN-led ‘Commission of Inquiry’ into longstanding allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Burma.

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/07/18/asean-must-respect-asean-charter-consider-burma-its-chair-2014
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ASIA SENTINEL
China Ignores Own Irrawaddy Dam Study
Written by Our Correspondent
Monday, 18 July 2011

China Power Investment’s assessment calls for Burma’s Myitsone Dam to be scrapped

The state-owned China Power Investment Corp. is continuing with the controversial Myitsone Dam on Burma’s Irrawaddy River despite its own 945-page environmental impact study calling for the project to be cancelled, according to a report by the Burma Rivers Network, which obtained a copy of the study.

The decision to ignore the negative environmental assessment is hardly unusual. A fondness for massive engineering projects on the part of China’s leaders, many of them engineers, has kept Beijing continuing to build, with the consequences to be dealt with later. The consequences have often been disastrous.

A case in point is the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River, the world’s largest hydropower dam, which also went ahead over the objections of environmentalists. In May, in a rare admission, the State Council issued a warning that a combination of environmental, construction and migration disasters is causing “urgent problems.”

While the Three Gorges dam has been beneficial to the region, the State Council said, “Urgent problems must be resolved regarding the smooth relocation of residents, ecological protection and geological disaster prevention.” Among these problems are that water quality in the Yangtze is said to be worsening because the dam prevents dispersal of pollutants. Algal blooms continue to develop progressively and soil erosion is causing riverbank collapses and landslides.

In Burma, thousands of workers and equipment already have been moved to Kachin State and construction has begun on the Myitsone facility and a second one, the Chibwe, over the objections of local villagers, according to the Burma Rivers Network.

Six villages have already been forced to relocate from the catchment areas although villagers complain that the relocation camp provides inadequate health and education facilities and that there is neither enough farmland nor water. The dams are opposed by affected communities across Burma. China Power’s own assessment warned that “the majority of local races oppose construction of the dams” and called for consultation with and consent of affected peoples, according to the NGO.

Although finished in late 2009, the assessment has never been made public, the NGO said. It was funded by China Power and was conducted by a team of 80 Burmese and Chinese scientists, according to the Burma Rivers Network, which opposes the construction of the dam and six others planned by Chinese engineers on the Irrawaddy and its tributaries. The Irrawaddy is Burma’s most important river and one of the major waterways flowing out of the Himalayas. The report, prepared on data gathered by the scientists over five months from January through May 2009, dealt with proposed dams on the Irrawaddy, N’Mai and Mali rivers in Kachin State.

The team recommended a longer and more comprehensive environmental assessment, saying the fragmentation of the river by a series of dams would pose “very serious social and environmental problems not only at upstream of dams but also to very far downstream to the coastal delta.”

The study predicted severe negative impacts on plant diversity, key biodiversity areas and conservation corridors.

If the Burmese and Chinese governments “were really concerned about environmental issues and aimed at sustainable development of the country, there is no need for such a big dam to be constructed at the confluence of the Ayeyawady (Irrawaddy) River, the NGO quoted the study as saying. “Instead two smaller dams could be built above Myitsone to produce nearly the same amount of electricity. Hence respecting the Kachin cultural values which surpass any amount of the overall construction costs.”

The Myitsone project, the report said, should be avoided “due to the changes in downriver hydrology which may affect navigation, the riverine ecosystem and delta ecosystem and will lead to negative impacts on the economy.”

China has been stubbornly pushing ahead with a series of dams, not just on the Irrawaddy but the Mekong as well over the objections of environmentalists who say the dams threaten to wreck the ecology of the rivers.

According to the Myitsone dam assessment obtained by the Burma Rivers Network, “the dams will impact millions that depend on the river and threaten biodiverse ecosystems: The fragmentation of the Irrawaddy River by a series of dams will have serious social and environmental problems not only at upstream of dams but also very far downstream to the coastal area.”

“Chinese companies are increasing their investments in Burma yet they are not following their own standards” said Sai Sai, coordinator of the Burma Rivers Network, in a prepared release. “While CPI Corporation is hiding its assessment from the people of Burma, construction of the dams is speeding ahead. China Power Investment is speeding ahead with its dam plans, ignoring Chinese and international standards for conducting proper assessments.”

The Kachin Independence Organization warned China’s government in March 2011 that construction of the Myitsone Dam might result in civil war. The warning came true. In June fighting broke out between Burmese Army and the Kachin Independence Organization, resulting in the shutdown of China’s Dapein hydropower station in Kachin State. Burmese soldiers, however, appear to have quelled the insurrection with overwhelming firepower.

The Burma Rivers Network urged that the dam projects be immediately stopped and that the economic, social, security and environmental impacts of dams throughout Burma be publicly disclosed. http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3326&Itemid=208
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Phuket Just a Dream for Arrested Boatload of 44 Burmese, Ripped Off by People Trafficker
By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison
Monday, July 18, 2011

PHUKET: A boatload of 44 Burmese who set sail for the holiday island of Phuket and the prospect of good wages and a better life were arrested at sea by the Royal Thai Navy about 5pm yesterday.

One of the apprehended Burmese told navy interrogators that each of the 30 men and 12 women who set out for Phuket - with two infants - paid 20,000 baht to a people smuggler to try to reach the prosperous holiday destination.

''We were promised jobs for 6500 baht, plus accommodation and food,'' said one woman, Jeza, aged 23. ''We were prepared to take our chances.''

Opponents of the newly-elected Pheu Thai Party's plan to raise the minimum wage on Phuket and in Thailand to 300 baht a day have warned that the sudden increase would trigger a wave of illegal migration from surrounding countries.

But it's not known whether the people arrested by the navy yesterday were aware of the controversial pay proposal. The prospect of a better life on Phuket may have been sufficient, even with a Thai high of 221 baht as the minimum wage.

A navy spokesperson said that the seven-metre vessel was intercepted between Prayam Island and Chang Island off mainland Ranong by the navy patrol ship, Hua Hin 541.

The smuggler's boat had departed from Victoria Point, the Burmese port opposite the Thai border town of Ranong. Both ports are familiar to expats making visa border runs from Phuket.

The Hua Hin carried its human cargo and towed the smuggler's confiscated boat to the fishing port of Kuraburi in Phang Nga, between Ranong and Phuket.

One of those on board the arrested vessel, Tery, aged 43, confessed to owning the boat and admitted to having agreed with the unidentified people trafficker to ferry the human cargo from Burma to Phuket for a fee of 5000 baht.

The Burmese were kept overnight on the navy vessel. At first light today, the group was transferred to a truck and transported to the Immigration detention centre in Ranong.

Most Burmese travelling to Phuket prefer to try their luck on the road rather than by sea. Subterfuges seem to work and smuggled people are seldom discovered - unless there are disasters.

In 2008, the air-conditioning failed on a seafood container truck bound for Phuket and 54 of more than 100 people inside suffocated to death. The survivors, after serving a short sentence in place of a fine, were quickly sent back to Burma.

Navy patrols have intensified off Phuket and the Andaman coast since the Muslim Rohingya boatpeople, denied citizenship in Burma and persecuted by the military junta, began making perilous boat trips south a few years ago in the hope of finding sanctuary in Thailand or Malaysia.

While the illegal Burmese are returned to Ranong where they are likely to serve a short sentence before being repatriated, 68 Rohingya boatpeople who made it to Phuket in January remain captive in two groups, incarcerated on Phuket and in Phang Nga.

The stateless would-be refugees, including boys as young as 12, face a timeless physical and mental torment in Thailand, with no prospect of release or of being granted refugee status.

Another group of Rohingya apprehended in Ranong early in 2009 is still being held in Bangkok, two-and-a-half-years later. http://phuketwan.com/tourism/phukets-dream-arrested-boatload-burmese-ripped-trafficker-14425/
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Burma lifts import ban on 15 Thai products
By PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI, THE NATION
Published on July 19, 2011

Exports to Burma are expected to grow significantly this year, thanks to Rangoon lifting a decade-old import ban on 15 products from Thailand, the Trade Negotiations Department reported.

Thailand will be able to export unconditionally to Burma monosodium glutamate, syrup, soft drinks, biscuits, gum, cake, wafers, canned food, instant noodles, chocolate, alcoholic beverages, beer, cigarettes, plastic products and fresh fruits.

Srirat Rastapana, director-general of the department, said that after numerous appeals to the Burmese government, its Commerce Ministry recently agreed to allow the imports. It had banned those products because of concern over consumers' health and domestic enterprises. It allowed import of some of the products only to serve foreign travellers in hotels and restaurants.

Srirat said the lifting of the restrictions was good news for Thai exporters as these products are in high demand among Burmese consumers.

Despite the controls on these 15 products, they managed to rack up a Burma-bound export value of Bt7.7 billion last year, mainly from trade across border checkpoints.

Total Thai exports to Burma grew 19.22 per cent to Bt33.95 billion in the first five months this year. Last year, exports to that country were up by 24.65 per cent to Bt65.6 billion.

Previously, the Burmese government also lifted an import ban on 11 Thai fruits. These were apple, pear, grape, cherry, monkey apple, orange, durian, rambutan, mangosteen, guava, and Southern langsat.

Srirat said Thailand was seeking more export opportunity for construction materials, as Burma had high demand for such products to serve its rapid growth. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Burma-lifts-import-ban-on-15-Thai-products-30160553.html

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