News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 03 August, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 03 August, 2011
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MPS Propose Debate on Political Prisoners, Ethnic Conflict
U Myint Calls on Burmese Government to Fight Corruption
Shan minister first of Burma govt to resign
Why do not Burma’s President and Parliament try to end war with KIO?
Burma due for ASEAN assembly recognition
Former Burmese Child Soldier to Speak in Congress
Suu Kyi Invited to State Poverty Workshop
Burma regime has 'positive' meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi
Harsh realities facing the Kachin
Govt Shelling Hits Karen Village
Could you design a better school for Burma’s children?
Burma: getting back on the map
The Folly of More Burma Sanctions
Still on the Run—Trafficked Burmese Recount Murder at Sea
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MPS Propose Debate on Political Prisoners, Ethnic Conflict
By KO HTWE Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Pro-democracy parliamentarians have said they will raise two key issues—the release of political prisoners and the ongoing conflicts in ethnic areas—at the second session of Burma's parliament due to convene on Aug. 22.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Thein Nyunt, an independent member of parliament in the Upper House, said he will continue to raise the issue of political prisoners' freedom.

“To fight for an amnesty for political prisoners is one of my election campaign promises,” he said.

All proposals put before parliament must be submitted to the relevant House Speaker at least 15 days in advance of the session, according to parliamentary law.

During the first session of the Pyithu Hluttaw, or Lower House, on March 22, then-Minister for Home Affairs Maung Oo said that the time was not right to discuss an amnesty for political prisoners in response to a question from Sai Hla Kyaw, a Shan Nationalities Development Party (SNDP) MP for Langkho constituency in Shan State.

According to Aye Maung, the chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP): “After new government was sworn in, international diplomats and representatives from Europe advocated the freedom of political prisoners. If the authorities accede to such requests, it will benefit the people of Burma.”

Vice President Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, Foreign Affairs Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and presidential political adviser Ko Ko Hlaing have each claimed in conversations with foreign diplomats—or, in the case of Ko Ko Hlaing, at an Asean forum—that the country has no political prisoners.

Aye Maung said that he hopes to discuss other issues that were canceled during the first session of parliament, such as the question of ethnic languages being taught in schools.

Meanwhile, representatives of five leading ethnic parties—the RNDP, the SNDP, the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP), the Chin National Party and the Phalon Sawaw Democratic Party— are discussing plans to propose at the next session of parliament the forming of a peace commission to resolve the ongoing armed conflicts in ethnic areas in eastern and northern Burma.

“The proposal is backed, not only by our five parties, but by other parties across the country that support dialogue between Naypyidaw and the ethnic groups,” said AMRDP Chairman Naing Ngwe Thein.

“We cannot, however, disclose details to the media before we present the issue to the parliament. At the first parliamentary session, some issues were canceled because the media had been notified in advance,” said Thein Nyunt.

Ye Tun, a Lower House MP representing the SNDP, said he will propose debate on the issue of land confiscation affecting farmers and landowners in areas where the Sino-Burmese gas and oil pipelines pass.

“Some farmers have received compensation for the inconvenience and losses caused by the pipeline,” he said. “But many other people are still waiting to know which areas the pipelines will cross, which lands will be confiscated, and how much they will get. Farmers want transparency on this issue.”

When the first session of parliament convened on Jan. 31 for the first time in 22 years, the average length of each session—among the Upper House, Lower House and regional parliaments—lasted just 15 minutes, leading to many people to jokingly refer to parliament as the “15-minute Hluttaw”. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21828
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U Myint Calls on Burmese Government to Fight Corruption
By THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, August 3, 2011

RANGOON—U Myint, a leading Burmese economist and the top economic advisor to Burma’s President Thein Sein, called on the Burmese government to fight corruption by adopting strong laws and regulations in a country that ranks as one of the most corrupt in the world.

U Myint, who is also a friend of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, made his call while presenting an anti-corruption paper at a workshop held in the Rangoon headquarters of the opposition National Democratic Force, a political party that broke away from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

During his presentation, U Myint said that he believed the Naypyidaw government, led by President Thein Sein, is looking for ways to fight corruption effectively, but needs to address the issue at all levels.

“The president is interested in starting an anti-corruption campaign at the micro-level. To avoid counter-productivity, I urged him to initiate the campaign at the macro-level,” he said.

U Myint also said the anti-corruption campaign will face repercussions from some government officials, business tycoons and foreign investors who have benefitted from the country’s endemic corruption.

U Myint, 73, was previously a professor of economics at Rangoon University. He also served as the director of the economics department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, he headed the Research Department at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He is currently the director of the Tun Foundation Bank in Rangoon.

In July, a talk on poverty that U Myint was scheduled to give at the NLD's Rangoon headquarters was cancelled at the last minute, reportedly due to pressure from Naypyidaw.

In Transparency International’s “Corruption Perceptions Index for 2010,” Burma ranked second lowest on the list. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21827
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Shan minister first of Burma govt to resign
By DVB
Published: 3 August 2011

MPs sit during the first session of parliament, which began on 31 January this year (Reuters)

State-run newspapers in Burma yesterday announced the resignation of Shan state’s regional minister for planning and economy, Thaung Shwe, who becomes the first member of the new government to step down.

His resignation was officially approved by President Thein Sein, who heads the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), of which Thaung Shwe is a member.

Little is known about the reasons for his departure, although sources close to the minister put it down to “personal problems”.

Rumours have circulated that Thaung Shwe practices polygamy, and tenuous links have been made between this and his resignation, although nothing has been confirmed.

His departure comes less than three weeks before the second session of Burma’s parliament, where ministers are expected to scrutinise legislation and address complaints about the annual budget.

Thaung Shwe told an interviewer earlier this year that he would work to boost collaboration among ministers in Shan state, and pledged to make clean water accessible across the state, Burma’s biggest and most populous. Little else is known of him. http://www.dvb.no/news/shan-minister-first-of-burma-govt-to-resign/16855
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Why do not Burma’s President and Parliament try to end war with KIO?
By Zin Linn Aug 03, 2011 12:06AM UTC

Although Burma has had a new so-called union parliament under President Thein Sein since March, the political crisis has been exacerbated as hostilities against ethnic groups more and more spread out. Especially, the military-backed Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) are in a deadlock position to sign a truce, sources from KIO side said. It seems too difficult to reach an agreement so far.

The talk involved a Burmese delegation led by Colonel Than Aung, leaders of the Kachin Consultative Council and KIO military wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), said KIO Joint-Secretary La Nan. KIA leaders included vice-chief-of-staff Brig-Gen Sumlut Gun Maw and Battalion 4 commander Colonel Zau Raw, he added.

It has not been confirmed so far whether the KIO and Burmese delegation have reached an agreement, with Kachin sources saying further talks between the two sides were likely in the event of a stalemate.

The KIO has offered to end ongoing fighting if the government will commence talks for a nationwide ceasefire. But Burmese government authorities did not show any positive signal, according to La Nang, a spokesman for the KIO. The KIO has met Burmese mission three times within last two months in an attempt to sign a new truce.

The KIO wants to sign a meaningful and strong ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government this time, not like the agreement in 1994, which disadvantaged a lot of rights and benefits for the Kachin people and the armed group itself, quoting a KIO official, Kachin News Group said.

“The 1994 ceasefire agreement made us suffer for 17 years. We knew it was politically fruitless and the wrong agreement but we had to follow it. As a result, we have been highly criticized by Kachin people.”

Despite the fact that, the KIO had no sufficient option to review the condition and it signed the ceasefire agreement with the then Burmese junta without any political discussion.

The KIO’s joint-secretary said the military backed government, which came into power through the 2008 constitution, should take the lead in negotiating a country-wide ceasefire and resolve political problems based on the spirit of the 1947 Panglong Agreement. The historic Panglong Treaty has outlined a multi-ethnic Union of Burma by the four major ethnic groups, the Burman, Shan, Kachin and Chin.

One year after Burma gained independence from the British in 1948, the Panglong Treaty was ignored and political argument between the majority Burmans and ethnic minorities brought about a civil war.

A July-28-open-letter offered by Burma’s pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, strongly called for a ceasefire between the Burmese government, led by ex-general, President Thein Sein, and ethnic armed groups, including the KIO, Karen National Union (KNU), New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Shan State Army (SSA).

“We welcome Suu Kyi’s open letter politically but we have no plan to release a statement on it. If necessary, it’s better that the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) release a statement because it concerns all ethnic armed groups in the alliance,” said La Nan, General Secretary No. 2 of KIO in Laiza, Kachin News Group reported.

The open letter of the Nobel peace laureate urged for peace talks as the first step toward peace in the country, he said. The letter said, “I would like to request to all to resolve the crisis in a peaceful way.”

The open letter was released three days after a meeting between Suu Kyi and Burmese Government Labor Minister, Aung Kyi, on July 28, to discuss working together to seek peace and stability for the country.

But, it was not the first time, Suu Kyi called for peaceful means. The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi released a statement dated June 20 calling both government and KIO to stop heavy fighting immediately in order to protect people’s lives and properties. The said statement also called for peaceful talks between stakeholders to settle down the decades long political crisis of the country.

In reality, Burmese government repeated the civil war with the KIO once more on 9 June, after the crash of their Border Guard Force plan, which was dismissed by the KIO several times. Additionally, the new government is acting much like the old one – the decade-long old military dictatorship – with freshly retired generals still making all the decisions.

Conversely, to end this civil war with KIO, Thein Sein government must launch a special parliamentary session immediately. As a parliament-based government, the president has the obligation to lead a discussion in the emergency parliament session in order to get true voice of the members of parliament, how they want to do with the ongoing civil war.

At least, the parliament should assign a mission made up of MPs to achieve peaceful solution that will fulfill the genuine wishes of the people. http://asiancorrespondent.com/61587/why-do-not-burma%E2%80%99s-president-and-parliament-try-to-end-war-with-kio/
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Burma due for ASEAN assembly recognition
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 3 August 2011

Naypyidaw will send a delegation to Cambodia this month where the annual summit of the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) is expected to officially recognise Burma as a member.

Around 14 parliamentarians will travel to Phnom Penh for the event, scheduled for 18 August. Dr Aye Maung, chairman of the parliamentary Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee, told DVB that the event will include a ceremony to hand over Burma’s national flag.

Along with Brunei, Burma is one of only two members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc not currently part of AIPA, and until now had only held “special observer” status. Although AIPA has never explicitly stated the reasons why Burma could not join, a number of delegates have long objected on the grounds of lack of democratic reform and state-sanctioned human rights abuses in the country.

Since the formation of a new government, however, ASEAN members’ rhetoric on Burma has softened, and ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan has maintained that Burma should be included.

The AIPA advocates for closer cooperation among the region’s legislatures and parliaments, and professes to boost the participation of citizens in regional affairs – something Burma may struggle to realise, given criticism of the void between civilians and the majority of parliamentarians there.

But ASEAN is known to have urged greater dialogue between both sides of the political spectrum in Burma, despite welcoming elections last year that many claim has entrenched military rule under the guise of a civilian government.

The delegation to Phnom Penh was due to be led by parliamentary speakers, although it coincides with the second session of the new parliament, beginning 22 August.

Burma’s position in ASEAN has seen much debate in recent months following a bid by President Thein Sein to become chair of the bloc in 2014 – critics claim however that Burma’s continuing domestic crises would reflect poorly on the bloc and render it an ineffective leader. http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-due-for-asean-assembly-recognition/16850
Former Burmese Child Soldier to Speak in Congress
Posted: 8/2/11 12:57 PM ET

I remember fairly little about my 14th year. I remember that I was a freshman in high school, that I found myself in the principal’s office with surprising regularity, that my teachers grew increasingly frustrated with my raucous behavior both in an outside the classroom. I remember it was a happy year, but nothing in particular stands out to me when I think back.

In the past week, I've met someone who remembers his 14th year entirely too clearly. His name is Hein Min Aung, and he's a former Burmese child soldier, a young man brave enough to fly halfway around the world at the invitation of Human Rights Action Center to speak in Congress about his experience in the government army of the country of Burma. Mr. Aung was 14 when he was forcibly conscripted into the army, 14 when he was forced to shoot a gun at civilians and commit atrocities and just 16 when he finally escaped the military.

The project to bring Mr. Aung to the United States to speak in Congress about his experiences in the Burmese army began two years ago, when my intern Grace Powell and I sat down and began to discuss human rights abuses in Burma. Given a choice of what specifically to focus on while interning at HRAC, Grace chose to focus on Burmese child soldiers. She was inspired by a Human Rights Watch report I'd given her that claimed Burma had more child soldiers than any country in the world.

I suggested that she work to raise awareness about the issue in Congress. Two years later, HRAC is hosting Mr. Aung in Washington, and preparing him for an informational briefing in the House of Representatives, as well as one for staffers on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. Aung has already done an interview with Voice of America, BBC Burma and Radio Free Asia, and plans to do one with the Democratic Voice of Burma. He's spent the past week in Washington seeing the sights and meeting with members of the small but highly active Burmese community in Washington.

Mr. Aung has prepared testimony for both briefings, in which he will describe being kidnapped into the army at the age of 14. He'll talk about his time in training camps and the abuse he suffered at the hands of his superiors, as well as how terrified he was his first time in battle. He plans to describe the atrocities committed against Burmese civilians by the army, and his eventual escape to Thailand. From there, he'll describe what it's like to be in a refugee camp, and how difficult it was for him to eventually move to New Zealand.

He hopes that his testimony will raise awareness about the plight of the nearly 70,000 other child soldiers still fighting in Burma today. When I asked him how he felt about traveling halfway around the world to visit Washington, DC, he told me it had been fairly terrifying. However, he explained, "I'm doing this for my people. I have to do this for them." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-healey/former-burmese-child-sold_b_915566.html
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Suu Kyi Invited to State Poverty Workshop
By WAI MOE Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Aung San Suu Kyi will be invited to the National Level Workshop on Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation in Naypyidaw this month as there is “common agreement” between the pro-democracy leader and Burmese regime, claims a government insider.

Nay Zin Latt, a member of the Burmese president’s political advisory board, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that he heard Suu Kyi will be invited to “cooperate individually as an observer attendee,” rather as general secretary of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party which won a landslide in 1990 elections.

He added that the president's office and the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development would be responsible for inviting Suu Kyi to the workshop. If Suu Kyi attends the Naypyidaw meeting it will be her first ever trip to the administrative capital.

Responding to the claims, NLD spokesman Ohn Kyaing said the party was unaware of the invitation. “But if any development is positive for dialogue and national reconciliation, we would welcome it,” he added.

The possibility of Suu Kyi's invitation comes a week after ex-Maj-Gen Aung Kyi, current minister for Labor as well as Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, met the Nobel Laureate at a government guesthouse in Rangoon.

After the meeting, the state media reported: “The two sides are optimistic about and satisfied with the dialogue. They held talks about opportunities for both sides to work together for the well-being of the public.

“The discussion included matters for the rule of law, elimination of disagreement and serving national interest.”

Three days after the meeting, Suu Kyi issued an open letter to the president and ethnic armed groups regarding ongoing conflicts in areas near the borders with China and Thailand. Speaking as an individual, Suu Kyi called for a ceasefire saying she was ready to get involved to achieve peace in the country.

“There are many positive developments. The joint-statement of U Aung Kyi and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi means there is a common agreement,” Nay Zin Latt said about the meeting.

“There were [previous] meetings between U Aung Kyi and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. But they were just supporting steps, not a common agreement,” he added, but not providing precise details of the agreement.

However, quoting Thein Sein’s briefing to advisory board members, Nay Zin Latt said the president thinks “people with different opinions” at home and aboard are allowed within “members of the family of 60 million” that make up Burma's population.

“He said first he would like to foster a common agreement between different peoples and then cooperate on common works,” Nay Zin Latt explained about Thein Sein’s words.

Asking to respond on Nay Zin Latt’s words regarding a “common agreement” between the government and Suu Kyi, Ohn Kyaing said he did not know what the advisory member was trying to saying.

Although there is no official confirmation by NLD leaders, party sources said there were at least three meetings between members of the president's advisory board and Suu Kyi as well as senior NLD figures before the pro-democracy icon's meeting with minister Aung Kyi last week.

Other political sources in Rangoon said a friend of Suu Kyi, U Myint, who is an economic adviser to the president, is the driving force behind the invitation as he proposed this to the government previously.

The move by President Thein Sein's new Burmese regime comes shortly after the Asean Regional Forum in Bali, Indonesia, where US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for “concrete, measurable progress” regarding political reforms such as release of more than 2,000 political prisoners and “meaningful and inclusive dialogue” with the opposition and ethnic groups.

Returning from Bali, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin reportedly told the National Defense and Security Council in Naypyidaw that Burma currently faces difficulties gaining approval for the Asean chairmanship in 2014. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21820
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Burma regime has 'positive' meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi

Minister meets opposition leader as Burma's new government takes timid steps towards political 'opening'
Antoine Clapik
Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 2 August 2011 13.59 BST

Aung San Suu Kyi talks to the family members of the late poet and political leader Thakin Kodaw Hmaing at a ceremony in Rangoon. Photograph: Stringer/EPA

Last week the Burmese dissident and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi met a member of the new government formed after last November's general election. This is the first time since her release from house arrest that she has met a government representative.

The meeting with the minister of labour, Aung Kyi – who is not related to the opposition leader – merely gave rise to a formal exchange, qualified in a joint communique as "positive". "It is the first step," the minister told the press. Aung San Suu Kyi cautiously hoped it would have "beneficial results for the country". During her time in custody the minister was in charge of relations with her, and she had met him nine times since 2007.

The government headed by President Thein Sein has made several timid gestures indicating an opening, even if there is no tangible evidence the regime is really moving towards the "disciplined democracy" it purportedly advocates. The meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, suddenly announced the previous day, came shortly after a statement by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, calling on the Burmese government to engage in "constructive dialogue" with the opposition.

The contact with the opposition leader, who now enjoys greater freedom of movement, suggests that the government is keen to improve its image with the international community. It recently allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to leave Rangoon, the business capital, where she lives. But although the government has given her a freer rein, she has nevertheless been banned from taking part in any political activity.

The 1991 Nobel prize winner is still acting cautiously, trying to build links between social networks all over the country, with the focus on combating poverty and on development, but taking care not to cross the red line drawn by the authorities.

Since taking office, after an election unanimously condemned by observers as a farce (a quarter of all seats were automatically allocated to the military), the new government has made scarcely any progress on the political front. However, it announced that Burma has received $20bn in foreign investment for the 2010-11 fiscal year, of which China contributed almost half.

For many analysts the most striking feature of the new team is its lack of initiative. In an article posted on Irrawady.org, a website operated by opposition forces in exile in Thailand, Larry Jargan, a Burma specialist, explains that splits have appeared in the government based in Naypyidaw, the country's new capital. Thein Sein, described as pragmatic in the piece, is at loggerheads with his deputy, Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo, a general thought to be the leader of the regime's hardliners. The former head of the junta, Than Shwe, is supposedly enjoying retirement but may very well still be pulling the strings.

Jargan maintains that "inertia has replaced the old junta" and that Tin Aung Myint Oo is doing his best to take control of events. He seems determined to limit the options available to the president and the army chief of staff, General Min Aung Hlaing, and "is trying to establish himself as the new dictator", according to Jargan, who cites sources in the capital. For the time being, this power struggle is holding up all the promised reforms.

It also explains the fact that Thein Sein has not released the 2,000 political prisoners, as demanded by Aung San Suu Kyi. According to sources in Rangoon, the president favours this measure, but his vice-president won't hear of it.

Renewed fighting between various armed groups belonging to the Karen and Kachin minorities has done nothing to allay tension in this ethnically fragmented country. The clashes are delaying hydroelectric and road-building projects undertaken with China in the north, and with Thailand in the south.

This story originally appeared in Le Monde http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/02/burma-regime-meeting-suu-kyi
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Harsh realities facing the Kachin
Published Date: August 2, 2011

Currently there are fierce battles raging throughout the Kachin State between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese government. (MaristFathers.org.au/Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office)

Relations between the Burmese military and the Kachins have been deteriorating for years and have now reached a humanitarian crisis.

…

The category Kachin comprises of six ethnic sub-groups or principal lineages (Jinghpaw, Lawngwaw, Lashi, Zaiwa, Rawang, Lisu).

These six groups are deemed to share similar traditions, customs, dialects and practices living mainly in northern Burma, as well as parts of China and India.

…

Under British rule from 1824 until 1948, many Kachin converted from traditional spirit worship animism to Christianity.

In modern Burma, the majority of Kachins are Christians, predominantly Baptists, followed by Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) was formed in 1961 shortly after Burma’s first Prime Minister U Nu decreed Buddhism as the state religion of Burma, against the will of the Ethnic Minorities.

The KIA also formed in response to the unfulfilled promises of autonomy of an independent Kachin State outlined in the Panglong Agreement 1947.

…

Independence Organization (KIO, the political arm of the KIA) policy goal is for autonomy within a federal union of Burma, along with self-determination of rule and administration of land and resources.

In 1994 a “Cease-Fire” agreement between the KIA and the Burmese Army was signed.

On the 9th June 2011, open conflict erupted for the second time after the 17-year ceasefire.

The clashes began when the Burmese government concluded an agreement with China for the construction of a dam that will power a hydroelectric plant in Kachin territory.

The project will cause the forced displacement without adequate compensation and flooding of villages where the Kachin people live.

Local people refused to move provoking violent repression from of the Burmese Army.

…

For those living outside of Kachin State, it is difficult to understand the harsh reality the people are facing. In undemocratic Burma, only the few military commanders with executive power control the whole country.

They have seriously oppressed media freedom and social and human rights activities, especially in Kachin State.

The Burmese military regime’s ethnic cleansing mentality fuels every Burmese soldier to act with violence, especially towards the strong-willed Kachin ethnic group. This is why the Kachin were forced to leave their homeland.

Source: MaristFathers.org.au http://www.cathnewsindia.com/2011/08/02/harsh-realities-facing-the-kachin/
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Govt Shelling Hits Karen Village
By SAW YAN NAING Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Villagers' lives have been severely disrupted in Hlaing Bwe Township in southern Karen State due to a continued campaign since May of mortar-shelling by a joint-force of Burmese government troops and a unit of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) against Karen rebels in the area, according to a rebel source.

The shelling has been carried out almost every day, said Brig-Gen Johnny, the commander of the main rebel faction, the Karen National Liberation Army's Brigade 7.

He said the government troops and BGF particularly try to target the camp of a renegade faction of the BGF, led by Lt-Col Po Bi, which defected from the government alliance to rejoin the KNLA and its its mother organization, the Karen National Union (KNU).

At least 14 community schools have been closed down due to the fighting, and villagers live in a constant state of fear, according to a report by the Karen Teachers Working Group. Some mortar shells have hit homes, though no deaths were reported.

Burmese army-BGF forces have dug in on high ground and are firing mortars down at the rebels' base, which is located just outside the town of Hlaing Bwe, Brig-Gen Johnny said, adding that many families have fled the village and are hiding in the jungle.

Meanwhile, KNLA Brigade 4 in Tenasserim Division has announced that it will carry out military activities against the government troops working as security guards for the Italian-Thai Company which is currently contracted to construct a highway between Thailand’s Kanchanaburi and Burma’s Tavoy as part of the multi-billion-dollar Dawei Development Project.

Local villagers in areas close to Tavoy [Dawei] have complained about the project's numerous negative impacts on the local population and the environment. Many also said that they have not been compensated for the loss of their land which was seized by Burmese authorities to expand the economic zone.

Maj. Joseph of KNLA Brigade 4 said, “We have to protect civilians. Their land has been seized and destroyed without compensation. They will only have to relocate if the project continues.”

Recently, a group of 50 construction workers from the Italian-Thai Company fled back to Thailand due to nearby fighting between government troops and KNLA Brigade 4 in Tenasserim Division, near the border with Thailand. The KNLA Brigade 4 ambushed the patrolling Burmese troops and burned down their camps.

The workers have since returned to the construction site in Tenasserim although construction on the highway is at a standstill, said KNLA sources.

When contacted by The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, a staffer from the Italian-Thai Company in Bangkok, refused to provide any details about the workers' security or the project. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21818
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THE INDEPENDENT
Could you design a better school for Burma’s children?
By Andrew Buncombe
The Foreign Desk
Tuesday, 2 August 2011 at 5:52 am

burma school one 300x225 Could you design a better school for Burmas children?

There’s not a lot that can prepare you for both the sadness and optimism that surrounds the schools and shelters set up along the Thai border for the thousands of Burmese children forced to flee for their lives with their families. Their stories are pitiful, their future uncertain and yet it is difficult, when talking to these youngsters, not to be moved by their courage and hope.

When David Cole and Louise McKillop recently visited some of these schools in Mae Sot they too were struck not just by the deficiencies but by the potential. “We saw children as young as two or three sleeping in the back of classrooms. Some of the children board at the schools, spending the week there, which allows parents the time to work and seek out a little more money,” said Ms McKillop. “Many work as rubbish collectors or workers in the fields and a lucky few as maids or cleaners within the homes of Thai families.”

The schools in the border towns are constantly expanding as the flow of refugees, most of them members of the Karen ethnic group, continues to pour across from Burma. In the semi-permanent camps that run along the border north and south of Mae Sot and which are overseen by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, it is estimated there are up to 140,000 people. They have no legal status in Thailand and yet cannot safely return to their own country under the current conditions.

When the pair asked one of the teachers why they were so many very young children, the teacher told them: “We get new families crossing the border all the time. Secondly, when the children reach an age where they can make money for the family as labourers they are taken out of schooling. It is heart breaking for the children who want to stay on, but can’t”

Some of the facilities in Mae Sot and the other communities are markedly better than others. Whereas many of the schools overseen by the Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee, an umbrella group of more than 45 schools, are essentially just shacks, others have concrete floors and proper roofs. The difference in standards is remarkable, as is the impact such improvements have on the children.

burms school 2 300x225 Could you design a better school for Burmas children?

“We visited Shwem Tha Zin school, which was in desperate need of funding. As we walked into the tiny classrooms we looked over and saw thirty toddlers sat together on the floor. One little boy was very upset and could not stop crying, he was one of the newest arrivals,” said Ms McKillop. “It is very difficult not to get emotionally attached to the children and the school.”

Ms McKillop and Mr Cole both work for the British charity Building Trust International and after their visit to the facilities in Mae Sot they hit upon the idea of trying to come up with a better classroom for the children they had met. “The seed of an idea was planted in our minds to create a set of school buildings that could be constructed on a site and then if the need arose could be deconstructed and moved to another site, another school or back to Burmese territory,” explained Mr Cole. “The task is a hard one as the buildings cannot be perceived as temporary by those using them. They need to convey a place of security that any school building should, while also being composed of light and durable enough materials to be relocated.”

They decided to try and solve the problem by turning it into a competition. Now they are challenging designers and architects from around the world to come up with a solution. “We decided that launching an international design competition would not only help get the best design but would also raise global awareness of the issues in Burma.”

Mr Cole said the competition will provide the funding for the build by charging small entry fees . The final building will be handed over to the BMWEC and will be used this as a model to investigate the potential of rolling out further modular school buildings in areas affected by similar factors. Full details of the competition can be found at the website of his organisation, www.BuildingTrustInternational.org

Mr Cole added: “We hope to show that design and architecture can be a tool for positive social change, not as a reinforcement of the divide between rich and poor which it seems to be becoming.” http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/08/02/could-you-design-a-better-school-for-burmas-children/
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Burma: getting back on the map
August 2, 2011 9:01 am by Tim Johnston

The ministry of hotels and tourism announced in June that arrivals were up almost 25 per cent for the first five months of the year, statistics that are supported by anecdotal evidence. A traveller looking for a last-minute room in Rangoon last week found the first hotel he tried fully booked – and this is the low season.

Unspoilt beaches like Nga Poli and Ngwe Saung are being compared to those in Thailand before developers embarked on their love affair with concrete and low-rent bars; Burma’s extraordinary temples of Bagan are like Cambodia’s Angkor Wat before the rush; and the mountainous north – particularly Putao – is one of the last great unspoilt landscapes in the world.

Burma is looking at a little over 350,000 tourists this year, a drop in the ocean compared to Thailand’s forecast of 15m arrivals.

To give an idea of the potential: Thailand has perhaps a couple of dozen resort islands in the Andaman Sea, places like Koh Pha Ngan and Kho Phi Phi. Burma’s Mergui archipelago consists of more than 800 islands, most of them untouched.

Burma used to be off the map, figuratively speaking, because of the political environment and reports that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate and opposition leader, wanted to discourage tourism.

But that has changed. She now supports independent tourism: “I think we are going to encourage individual tourism, encourage tourists to stay in certain kinds of hotels, ethical tourism if you like,” she told the FT’s David Pilling in January.

According to local media, there are already 22 foreign owned hotels in Burma.

“Singapore has topped foreign investment in Myanmar’s hotel sector with 597.75 million U.S dollars, followed by Thailand with 263.25 million USD, Japan with 183.01 million USD, China’s Hong Kong with 77 million USD, Malaysia with 20 million USD and Britain with 3.4 million USD,” the Xinhua news agency reported last week, although the so-called British money is likely to be mostly Chinese money being funnelled through the British Virgin Islands – a reminder that not only does Burma have the destinations, it also lies sandwiched between the markets of enormous markets of China and India. http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/08/02/burma-getting-back-on-the-map/#axzz1TweembzS
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THE DIPLOMAT
The Folly of More Burma Sanctions
August 02, 2011
By David Steinberg

With the first signs of reform there in decades, the US plan to extend sanctions against the government is misguided and self-defeating, says David Steinberg.
Related Features

If US sanctions against the military government in Burma, the goal of which were regime change, haven’t worked for a decade and a half, by what logic would one suppose that additional sanctions would have a more positive effect? Yet well-meaning human rights and other organizations have recently proposed that further sanctions be instituted, and that a UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations be convened.

This proposal is especially quixotic as the EU has just modestly modified its less stringent sanctions policy in light of potential progress in that country, and none of the Asian states adheres to any sanctions regimen. Rather than being a step forward, then, this proposal undercuts both US policy and the potential for positive change in Burma.

That the Congress and the White House will extend current sanctions policies is a given, as Burma isn’t an issue on which any administration is willing to use up political ammunition. But the country has a new government inaugurated this spring – as a result of last November’s admittedly clearly flawed elections, which in turn were based on a manipulated referendum on a new constitution in May 2008.

The cast of characters in this new act of the Burmese tragic drama is largely composed of the former military, but now in mufti. Still, there are now a few opposition voices in the various parliaments, and the first public criticism of state policies has taken place before the new president, in an act unprecedented in a half century.

In his inaugural speech the end of March 2011, President Thein Sein set forth a remarkably liberal and positive agenda. It called for progress on the alleviation of poverty, economic reform, more attention to health and education – both in miserable condition – better treatment of minorities, less censorship, and the elimination of corruption. The speech could have come from any government spokesperson in a democratic society.

These goals, while articulated by the head of state, aren’t universally accepted among the military power elite in that society, and there are strong elements opposed to reform. They could scuttle positive change and redirect priorities, which have been advocated by many foreign observers and governments. But the call for more sanctions and the UN Commission of Inquiry simply lends more credence to those elements within Burma who are opposed to reform, who will claim that no action will please the United States, and therefore the US continues to be a threat, which in turn requires tighter controls on the population and greater military expenditures. Such views undercut the potential for helping the people of that poor society – those that the advocates of more sanctions wish to assist.

The United States has nominated a special ambassadorial envoy to Burma, and his approval is likely in the Senate. His position calls for coordination of sanctions policies and dialogue with the Burmese. Do the organizations advocating more sanctions really believe that this will positively affect his efficacy in dealing with Burmese officials?

The Barack Obama policy review resulting in ‘pragmatic engagement’ went as far as it could given internal US politics. It called for high-level dialogue, which continues. But US sanctions can’t be eliminated except in response to some overarching reforms inside Burma and the expressed concurrence of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The United States has called for continued support to her and institutionally to the National League for Democracy, a party officially deregistered because of her objections to participation in the elections. All this means that no US administration will use up valuable internal political credits to change existing sanctions, and even the new Burmese administration may not be strong enough to take the positive steps the United States wants.

The reality is that change inside Burma is possible, but likely to be slow. Yet though these internal Burmese reforms may prove ephemeral, they are the first positive governmental steps since 1962 and the military coup of that year. We should therefore welcome them as a start, and watch carefully their progress.

It’s simply self-defeating to advocate policies that effectively undercut the possibility of these reforms continuing, something which would be in the interests of both the United States and the people of that sorry land.

David I. Steinberg is a Distinguished Professor of Asian Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. His latest volume is 'Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know.' This is an edited version of a piece published by Pacific Forum CSIS here. http://the-diplomat.com/2011/08/02/the-folly-of-more-burma-sanctions/
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Still on the Run—Trafficked Burmese Recount Murder at Sea
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Wednesday, August 3, 2011

PATHUMTHANI, Thailand — As the wind-whipped rain made its staccato finger-drum rattle on the shack's tin roof, Saw* and four Burmese co-workers sat cross-legged on the roughly bonded plywood that had been pieced together to make an elevated floor.

Outside, the construction site at Lamluka in Pathumthani, an hour from central Bangkok, had turned into a cement and mud swamp, as Thailand got the tail-end of the Nock-Ten storm that killed over fifty people in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Sodden by the downpour, the pathway through the site had turned to mud, the thick gluey clay sticking to clothes and shoes and splashing up onto faces and hair. The sludge was everywhere, even dulling and browning the usually creamy-white thanaka paste—a Burmese make-up made from the ground bark of the thanaka tree—which adorned the faces of two of the women sitting to listen to Saw's story.

“I saw them throw two men into the sea,” recalled the 32-year-old Saw, almost blurting out the revelation in his eagerness for catharsis. Frozen with fear at the time, he said that he was “too scared to move, to do anything.”

The two men, who he said were both in their early twenties, put up a final, futile, agonizing struggle.

“They fought, but with the noise from the engine and the sea, I could not hear, though I could see,” Saw continued.

“There were too many, the men who threw them in were Mon, they were like the right-hand men of the captain, a Thai.”

Pausing, he repeated, as if still stunned by what he saw that day. “They just grabbed them and threw them into the waves. That was it.”

Asked why he thought the men were murdered, Saw said “it was like the policy.” The unwanted and feeble were discarded overboard. “They were sick, weak, they could no longer work. They were just in the way.”

Saw said he spent seven months at sea, during which he was beaten, poorly fed and forced to work at least fifteen hours per day, before escaping on Nov 10, 2010, when the boat docked with catch at Ar Chong.

Before all that, Saw made his way from Myitkyina in northern Burma's Kachin State to the Thai-Burmese border. He was hoping to find work in Mae Sot, a border town linked to Burma's Myawaddy by a now-closed bridge, usually one of the main land and trade links between the two Southeast Asian neighbors.

Through what he says was his own stupidity, he was captured by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a largely pro-government ethnic Karen militia that split from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in 1994. Human rights groups have long accused the DKBA of human trafficking, saying the militia targets vulnerable Burmese seeking to find work in Thailand. The DKBA forced Saw to work as a logger, though he says he managed to flee after a few days, finding his way to the Minlatpan border crossing and a broker known as Ko Kyaw, who had already recruited 38 people. He linked the group up with a second broker, whose name Saw forgets, in Mae Sot across the border, who would assist the group in finding work, according to Ko Kyaw.

Saw signed up, as the group was told they would have to work just two months aboard a fishing vessel to repay debts owed to the brokers for helping the group find work in Thailand. Heartened by what turned out to be a cruel ruse, they started their trek on April 19, 2010, hiking and hacking through jungles, bypassing villages and dodging police checkpoints en route to Ar Chong, near Rayong, east of Bangkok.

“Sometimes we walked all night,” he recalled. “Other times we built a fire, as the broker told us that man-eating tigers were in the area.”

However, tigers were not the only threat they faced on their arduous nine-day trek south. “Two men, I guess maybe Thai villagers, robbed us one night,” he said, as if somewhat embarrassed by what came next. “There were more than 30 of us, but just two of them. But they had guns and managed to get money from some of us before running off into the night.”

One woman, who Saw said was “about 27,” was injured during the long walk. “I think her shoes gave out, one of her feet was giving her pain,” he recalled.

Saw said the woman could no longer walk. He would not say whether the broker made the call on what to do, but with half the journey still ahead, the decision was made. “We left her behind in the jungle,” he said, exhaling, eyes down, marking the first pause in what s was so far an almost stream-of-consciousness recounting of his story.

Saw said he worked up the courage to try escape from the boat after being told he would have to work at least one year on the vessel. “If I was to stay longer, I would not have life anymore,” he lamented.
His eventual escape was planned and undertaken with a colleague from Arakan State in western Burma, who had also been trafficked and held in debt bondage aboard the fishing boat. “It was our second try,” he said. “The first time we were caught by police. They brought us back to the ship and then we were beaten and threatened.”
Lesson learned, he said. “The second time we made sure to avoid any police or army. We took a bus to Bangkok and have been here ever since.”
While life is now much better for Saw, his ordeal has not ended. “'I have had four jobs since coming here,” he said. “As most of them have not been steady work, I just keep moving on.”
To better regulate its migrant worker sector, Thailand introduced a registration process for illegal or unregistered migrant workers, which ran from June 15-July 14. Almost 700,000 Burmese registered during that period, meaning that there are now almost 1.5 million Burmese entitled by law to work in Thailand.
While the process has been a success and has been broadly welcomed, it entails some damaging side effects. According to the Thailand section of the latest US State Department survey of global trafficking trends, “observers remained concerned that the process to legalize migrant workers with its associated fees, as well as costs imposed by poorly regulated and unlicensed labor brokers, increased the vulnerability of migrant workers to trafficking and debt bondage.”
Saw arrived at the Pathumthani construction site only last Sunday, July 31. “I ran from the last job,” he said, claiming that the subcontractor he worked for there sought an extra 3,000 baht (US $100) for processing his legalization papers with the Thai authorities.
“I tried to bargain, but she would not listen,” Saw said. “She threatened to call the police, so I ran, I panicked.”
He said he came here because he knew some of the Burmese working at this site. “I have work here already,” he said, although some of the other workers have been told that they will not be paid until the entire housing project is completed.
However, the previous subcontractor has his documentation and the original copy of his registration with the Thai authorities. “I don't know what I can do now without my papers, or how to get them,” he said.
*Saw is a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the trafficking victim. His case has been independently assessed and verified by academic and NGO staff working on trafficking issues, who asked that their identities be withheld. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21824

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