News & Articles on Burma Wednesday, 07 March 2012 ----------------------------------------------- KNU and Burma government to meet in April to formalize ceasefire Suu Kyi's unthinkable leap from icon to parliament Political star reborn: Aung San Suu Kyi campaign inspires Myanmar to dream of brighter future Joseph E. Stiglitz: Myanmar's Turn Myanmar's endless ethnic quagmire Kachin War Aid Largely a Local Affair Myanmar, New Zealand to promote bilateral ties, cooperation Burma's Charities Still Can't Get Licenses NLD to build trust between army and peopl Japan, U.S. mull debt reduction for Myanmar -Nikkei Illegal Aliens or Refugees? 100,000 Burmese Chin Christians in India Prayuth asks Myanmar, Laos to curb fires ------------------------------------------- KNU and Burma government to meet in April to formalize ceasefire March 7 | Author: Eh Na The Karen National Union and the Burma government have agreed to meet in early April to formalize and finalize their preliminary ceasefire arrangement that was reached in a meeting on 12th January in the Karen State town of Pa-an. The KNU general secretary, Naw Zipporah Sein, told Karen News. Both sides agreed to meet in early April to continue to talk and to try to reach a concrete cease-fire arrangement. At the moment the date and place have yet to be confirmed. On 2nd March, KNU representatives, led by Naw Zipporah Sein, and other high raking KNU executive members Pdoh Saw Roger Khin, and military leaders General Mutu Say Poe, Brigadier General Mai Aye Sein, Colonel Saw Htoo Htoo Lay met with the Burmese government representatives in Thailand. The Burma government delegation was led by Railway Minister, U Aung Min, Security and Border Affair Colonel Aung Lwin, and a member of Myanmar Egress, U Kyaw Yin Hlaing, U Lat Maung Shwe. The delegation also included business people U Ngwe Soe, U Ko Ko Maung and Ma Su. Naw Zipporah Sein speaking to Karen News said. In future talks, we will focus our negotiations on about military matters the movement of troops, the positioning of troops and security issues. Naw Zipporah said that the KNU will include women representatives in future talks between the Karen and Burma government. Talks will include the participation of women. The KNU already has a policy for the inclusion of women in the peace talk process. The participation of women has also been urged by the representatives of Karen communities and organizations from around the world. http://karennews.org/2012/03/knu-and-burma-government-to-meet-in-april-to-formalize-ceasefire.html/ ------------------------------------------- Suu Kyi's unthinkable leap from icon to parliament By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press 1 hour ago YANGON, Myanmar (AP) On Yangon's teeming streets, 2012 is the year of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her once-banished image now appears everywhere, on T-shirts, keychains and coffee mugs. Pirated copies of "The Lady" the big screen version of Suu Kyi's life are the best-selling DVD. And in this devoutly Buddhist country, calendars with Suu Kyi's pictures are now outselling even the Lord Buddha. In just over a year since her release from house arrest, the 66-year-old opposition leader has made the once unthinkable leap into Myanmar's mainstream, transforming from political prisoner to political campaigner. Now she's trying to take another big step: from icon to elected official. For many people who put their dreams on hold during decades of military rule, Suu Kyi is seen as a savior and the solution to the country's problems creating expectations that even she warns can't be met anytime soon. If the pro-democracy icon wins the April 1 vote, she will become a junior and minority member of parliament, meaning that Suu Kyi's greatest challenge would be her lack of power to make any real change, at least for the foreseeable future. "The road ahead is rough and tough. Democracy is hard to achieve," Suu Kyi told a massive crowd last weekend in the city of Mandalay, where more than 100,000 people packed the streets to see her. Swarmed by a sea of humanity at campaign outings, Suu Kyi has warned that she is not "a wizard" and can't magically introduce her dreams of democracy, peace and more freedom. She tells the crowds she cannot make any campaign promises. But her appearance upstages her words. In response the crowd screams: "We love you Mother Suu!" a name she is affectionately called even by elders because she has the image of having mothered the country through its dark, difficult times. "Her presence is electrifying. It's not just a Nelson Mandela, a Gandhi, an Obama but it has an element of Marilyn Monroe and a rock star," said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar expert and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. "But can her ability to mobilize public support be translated into concrete change? I doubt it." As the dignified, determined Nobel Peace laureate travels the country campaigning for a seat in parliament, there is a sense of euphoria in Myanmar. The pace of change has been frenetic since a nominally civilian government took office a year ago, releasing hundreds of political prisoners, relaxing media censorship, approving Suu Kyi's candidacy and allowing massive crowds at her campaign rallies. What might normally be a little by-election to fill one-tenth of the seats in parliament has taken on enormous significance. A victory for Suu Kyi would be highly symbolic. It would anoint her with an elected office and a voice in government for the first time in her quarter century as Myanmar's opposition leader. Even if Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy opposition party win all 48 seats up for grabs they would only have a small minority. The military is guaranteed 25 percent of seats in the 440-seat lower house and the remainder is dominated by the main pro-military party. "Parliament is not about 60 million people behind Suu Kyi. It's about who has the largest number of seats in Parliament," Zarni said. Critics say this would put Suu Kyi right where the government wants her: On a pedestal, as poster child for "the new Myanmar" but politically neutralized. There remains great skepticism about the sincerity of the new government and Suu Kyi herself has called for cautious optimism, saying recently that "ultimate power still rests with the army ... we cannot say that we have got to a point where there will be no danger of a U-turn." Of all the disorienting changes, Suu Kyi's public prominence is perhaps the most vivid. Every morning in Yangon, people crowd into the headquarters of her National League for Democracy party, a rundown two-story house that has become part-Suu Kyi souvenir shop and part-spiritual Mecca for her supporters. "She is the person who can make my dreams come true," said 41-year-old Koko Lwin, a poor man in disheveled clothes who took a 10-hour bus ride from central Myanmar, went straight to the party headquarters and bought a Suu Kyi T-shirt. "She can make this country good. She can give me a good life." Sales are helping to fund the party's campaign. At a recent art show in Mandalay, organizers sold about 10 million kyat ($12,500) in artwork and 20 million kyat ($25,000) worth of Suu Kyi T-shirts, key chains and calendars, said Win Tin, a former journalist and poet who helped found Suu Kyi's party in 1988 and then spent 19 years as a political prisoner. As he entered the party headquarters, supporters filmed him with cell phones. "Ten months ago, nobody would have worn a Daw Suu Kyi T-shirt," said Win Tin. Daw is a term of respect. "People are getting bolder, and not only in support of Daw Suu and the National League for Democracy. But against the government." Vendors on Yangon's busiest streets say no T-shirt, DVD or calendar is selling better these days than those featuring Suu Kyi. "Even pretty actresses and Buddha can't compete with Suu Kyi this year," said U Myint, a vendor on a street lined with stalls selling calendars. "The Lady" starring Michelle Yeoh hasn't yet been released in the U.S. but it's a huge hit here, chuckles Cho Gyi, 25, who sells pirated movies near Sule Pagoda where soldiers gunned down Buddhist monks and other anti-junta protesters in 2007. He wears a Suu Kyi pendant around his neck. "To me, she's like a mother. I love her." For years, the former military junta tried to make the people forget Suu Kyi. They locked her in her lakeside villa and closed her upscale Yangon street to traffic. They padlocked her opposition party's offices and banned her picture from newspapers. People dared not utter her name in public, referring only in hushed tones to "The Lady." Some have described Suu Kyi as an accidental leader, but many in Myanmar see her as part of a national narrative. Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country's independence hero, Gen. Aung San, who was assassinated by rivals when she was just 2. In 1988 at the age of 43, Suu Kyi returned to her homeland after two decades abroad to nurse her dying mother just as an uprising erupted against the military regime. She was thrust into the forefront of the pro-democracy movement. A gifted orator with steely grace and charisma, she inherited her father's fortitude. Her ability to capture the hearts of the Burmese people was why the junta locked her up after brutally crushing the 1988 protests. She stayed under house arrest for 15 of the next 23 years. Some observers fear Myanmar's people will be disappointed in the new parliament when it fails to quickly deliver on their expectations. After years of isolation, Myanmar needs a top-to-bottom overhaul of its economy, education, health and banking systems and a plan to unify the country's ethnic groups after years of guerrilla warfare with the junta. But that disappointment is unlikely to dim Suu Kyi's star among the Burmese people, analysts say. "They identify her with democracy and freedom and with resistance, and they will continue to do that whether she manages to get into parliament, become prime minister, or not," said Monique Skidmore, a Myanmar expert at the University of Canberra. Zarni agrees: "If nothing concrete can be delivered in the next two to five years, the public will fault the regime. She can do no wrong." Nonetheless, there are fears of what the future holds for Suu Kyi. On a recent evening in Yangon, a group of former political prisoners gathered near the country's gold-domed Shwedagon Pagoda without a police officer in sight. They wondered about the prospects of a country that has wrapped its hopes and dreams around one person. "What we all expect is full democracy and true human rights. This will take a long time," said Aung Tun, 49, who spent a decade in prison for writing a book about student activism. "During that time, I am concerned that somebody who is impatient with the slow pace of change might take action and assassinate Daw Suu just like Mohandas Gandhi," he said, drawing grim nods from the group. "At the moment, there is no one who could replace her." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jPKfXCn93keXlMH4xsk-WXY00VjQ?docId=426d7ebcbc5946da9b7ac07fd1359819 ---------------------------------------------- Political star reborn: Aung San Suu Kyi campaign inspires Myanmar to dream of brighter future By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, March 7, 5:29 AM YANGON, Myanmar On Yangons teeming streets, 2012 is the year of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her once-banished image now appears everywhere, on T-shirts, keychains and coffee mugs. Pirated copies of The Lady the big screen version of Suu Kyis life are the best-selling DVD. And in this devoutly Buddhist country, calendars with Suu Kyis pictures are now outselling even the Lord Buddha. In just over a year since her release from house arrest, the 66-year-old opposition leader has made the once unthinkable leap into Myanmars mainstream, transforming from political prisoner to political campaigner. Now shes trying to take another big step: from icon to elected official. For many people who put their dreams on hold during decades of military rule, Suu Kyi is seen as a savior and the solution to the countrys problems creating expectations that even she warns cant be met anytime soon. If the pro-democracy icon wins the April 1 vote, she will become a junior and minority member of parliament, meaning that Suu Kyis greatest challenge would be her lack of power to make any real change, at least for the foreseeable future. The road ahead is rough and tough. Democracy is hard to achieve, Suu Kyi told a massive crowd last weekend in the city of Mandalay, where more than 100,000 people packed the streets to see her. Swarmed by a sea of humanity at campaign outings, Suu Kyi has warned that she is not a wizard and cant magically introduce her dreams of democracy, peace and more freedom. She tells the crowds she cannot make any campaign promises. But her appearance upstages her words. In response the crowd screams: We love you Mother Suu! a name she is affectionately called even by elders because she has the image of having mothered the country through its dark, difficult times. Her presence is electrifying. Its not just a Nelson Mandela, a Gandhi, an Obama but it has an element of Marilyn Monroe and a rock star, said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar expert and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. But can her ability to mobilize public support be translated into concrete change? I doubt it. As the dignified, determined Nobel Peace laureate travels the country campaigning for a seat in parliament, there is a sense of euphoria in Myanmar. The pace of change has been frenetic since a nominally civilian government took office a year ago, releasing hundreds of political prisoners, relaxing media censorship, approving Suu Kyis candidacy and allowing massive crowds at her campaign rallies. What might normally be a little by-election to fill one-tenth of the seats in parliament has taken on enormous significance. A victory for Suu Kyi would be highly symbolic. It would anoint her with an elected office and a voice in government for the first time in her quarter century as Myanmars opposition leader. Even if Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy opposition party win all 48 seats up for grabs they would only have a small minority. The military is guaranteed 25 percent of seats in the 440-seat lower house and the remainder is dominated by the main pro-military party. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/political-star-reborn-aung-san-suu-kyi-campaign-inspires-myanmar-to-dream-of-brighter-future/2012/03/07/gIQA4EIKwR_story.html ------------------------------------------- Joseph E. Stiglitz: Myanmar's Turn Published on Mar 7, 2012 YANGON - Here in Myanmar (Burma), where political change has been numbingly slow for a half-century, a new leadership is trying to embrace rapid transition from within. The government has freed political prisoners, held elections (with more on the way), begun economic reform, and is intensively courting foreign investment. Understandably, the international community, which has long punished Myanmar's authoritarian regime with sanctions, remains cautious. Reforms are being introduced so fast that even renowned experts on the country are uncertain about what to make of them. But it is clear to me that this moment in Myanmar's history represents a real opportunity for permanent change - an opportunity that the international community must not miss. It is time for the world to move the agenda for Myanmar forward, not just by offering assistance, but by removing the sanctions that have now become an impediment to the country's transformation. So far, that transformation, initiated following legislative elections in November 2010, has been breathtaking. With the military, which had held exclusive power from 1962, retaining some 25 per cent of the seats, there were fears that the election would be a facade. But the government that emerged has turned out to reflect fundamental concerns of Myanmar's citizens far better than was anticipated. Under the leadership of the new president, Thein Sein, the authorities have responded to calls for a political and economic opening. Progress has been made on peace agreements with ethnic-minority insurgents - conflicts rooted in the divide-and-rule strategy of colonialism, which the country's post-independence rulers maintained for more than six decades. The Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not only released from house arrest, but is now campaigning hard for a parliamentary seat in April's by-elections. On the economic front, unprecedented transparency has been introduced into the budgetary process. Expenditures on health care and education have been doubled, albeit from a low base. Licensing restrictions in a number of key areas have been loosened. The government has even committed itself to moving towards unifying its complicated exchange-rate system. The spirit of hope in the country is palpable, though some older people, who saw earlier moments of apparent relaxation of authoritarian rule come and go, remain cautious. Perhaps that is why some in the international community are similarly hesitant about easing Myanmar's isolation. But most Burmese sense that if changes are managed well, the country will have embarked on an irreversible course. In February, I participated in seminars in Yangon (Rangoon) and the recently constructed capital, Naypyidaw, organised by one of the country's leading economists, U Myint. The events were momentous, owing both to large and actively engaged audiences (more than a thousand in Yangon), and to the thoughtful and moving presentations by two world-famous Burmese economists who had left the country in the 1960's and were back for their first visit in more than four decades. My Columbia University colleague Ronald Findlay pointed out that one of them, 91-year-old Hla Myint, who had held a professorship at the London School of Economics, was the father of the most successful development strategy ever devised, that of an open economy and export-led growth. That blueprint has been used throughout Asia in recent decades, most notably in China. Now, perhaps, it has finally come home. I delivered a lecture in Myanmar in December 2009. At that time, one had to be careful, given the government's sensitivities, even about how one framed the country's problems - its poverty, lack of rural productivity, and unskilled workforce. Now caution has been replaced by a sense of urgency in dealing with these and other challenges, and by awareness of the need for technical and other forms of assistance. (Relative to its population and income, Myanmar is one of the world's smallest recipients of international assistance.) There is much debate about what explains the rapidity of Myanmar's current pace of change. Perhaps its leaders recognised that the country, once the world's largest rice exporter, was falling far behind its neighbours. Perhaps they heard the message of the Arab Spring, or simply understood that, with more than three million Burmese living abroad, it was impossible to isolate the country from the rest of the world or prevent ideas from seeping in from its neighbours. Whatever the reason, change is occurring, and the opportunity that it represents is undeniable. But many of the international sanctions, whatever their role in the past, now seem counterproductive. Financial sanctions, for instance, discourage the development of a modern and transparent financial system, integrated with the rest of the world. The resulting cash-based economy is an invitation to corruption. Likewise, restrictions that prevent socially responsible companies based in advanced industrial countries from doing business in Myanmar have left the field open to less scrupulous firms. We should welcome Myanmar's desire for guidance and advice from multilateral institutions and the United Nations Development Program; instead, we continue to limit the role that these institutions can play in the country's transition. Whenever we withhold assistance or impose sanctions, we need to think carefully about who bears the burden in bringing about the changes that we seek. Opening up trade in agriculture and textiles - and even providing preferences of the kind that are offered to other poor countries - would likely benefit directly the poor farmers who make up 70 per cent of the population, as well as create new jobs. The wealthy and powerful can circumvent financial sanctions, though at a cost; ordinary citizens cannot so easily escape the impact of international-pariah status. We have seen the Arab Spring blossom haltingly in a few countries; in others, it is still uncertain whether it will bear fruit. Myanmar's transition is in some ways quieter, without the fanfare of Twitter and Facebook, but it is no less real - and no less deserving of support. Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University, a Nobel laureate in economics, and the author of Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy.http://www.straitstimes.com/Project_Syndicate/Story/STIStory_774792.html --------------------------------------------- Asia Times Oline, Mar 8, 2012 Myanmar's endless ethnic quagmire By Bertil Lintner CHIANG MAI - A mass movement is spreading across Myanmar on a scale not seen since tens of thousands of Buddhist monks led anti-government demonstrations in 2007 and the massive nationwide pro-democracy uprising against the old military regime in 1988. This time the mobilizing force is a by-election contested by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party to fill 48 seats in parliamentary bodies currently dominated by military aligned representatives. Wherever Suu Kyi appears on the campaign trail thousands of people of all ages have shown up to listen to her speeches, or just to line the roads and cheer along the routes of her motorcade. Big screen televisions, expensive sound systems and other sophisticated paraphernalia at her rallies are clear indications of support from sections of the private business community, which until recently had links almost exclusively with the traditional military establishment. Until a year ago many Western observers, including prominent European Union diplomats in Bangkok who cover Myanmar, asserted that Suu Kyi was a spent political force, that many young people didn't even know who she was because she had spent years under house arrest. Instead they felt that a new "Third Force" was emerging, one that challenged the supposed uncompromising stands of both Suu Kyi and the NLD, and the military-dominated government. The present mass movement shows clearly how wrong they were; most outsiders failed to understand that Suu Kyi was not only a political figure but, in the minds of many ordinary Myanmar citizens, a female bodhisattva who was going to deliver them from the evils of the country's military regime. At a recent rally in Mandalay, two teenage girls carried between them a huge red banner declaring that Suu Kyi was "a second god." Suu Kyi herself is opposed to her apotheosis but such representations promise to continue in the context of Myanmar's polarized political landscape. The existence of a viable "Third Force" may be a myth invented by donor agencies of Western countries and a host of mainly European private foundations eager to expand their enterprises and see a solution to Myanmar's decades-long political crisis. But there is a "third factor" to the equation which is bound to make Myanmar's journey towards democracy and peace extremely difficult: the unresolved ethnic issue. In the far north of the country, a bloody war between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic insurgent group fighting for autonomy within a federal union, shows no signs of abating despite several rounds of peace talks and mediation efforts by foreign reconciliation outfits. In other parts of the country, fragile ceasefire agreements between the government and various other rebel forces have maintained a semblance of peace. As Myanmar's history shows, ceasefires only freeze underlying problems and to date have not provided lasting solutions. There are still at least 50,000 men and women under arms across the country of ethnic resistance forces. To address these underlying problems, Suu Kyi has called for the convention of a second "Panglong Conference," in reference to an agreement that her father Aung San, who led Myanmar's fight for freedom from colonial Britain, signed with representatives of the Shan, Kachin and Chin peoples at the small market town of Panglong on February 12, 1947. The agreement paved the way for a new federal constitution, which was adopted in September of that year and declared independence on January 4, 1948. Aung San was assassinated by a political rival in July 1947, but his Panglong agreement was honored in the constitution. Chapter Ten of that charter even granted the Shan and Karenni States the right to secede from the Union after a 10-year period of independence. Other ethnic states were not granted that right but the Panglong agreement stipulated that "full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas is accepted in principle." One of Myanmar's main ethnic groups, the Karen, did not sign the Panglong Agreement and instead resorted to armed struggle in 1949. Other, smaller ethnic groups such as the Karenni, Mon and Muslim mujahids also took up arms, as did the powerful Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and various groups of mutineers from the regular army who wanted to turn the country into a socialist republic. The civil war and political chaos led to the formation of a military caretaker government in 1958, which after less than two years in office handed power back to an elected civilian government. In March 1962, Myanmar's experiment with parliamentary democracy and federalism ended abruptly in a military coup. Then civilian prime minister U Nu had convened a seminar to discuss the future status of the ethnic frontier areas, not in order to dissolve the union, but rather to find ways forward by better defining and strengthening the country's federal structure. The new military government, led by General Ne Win, arrested all the participants in the seminar and abolished the 1947 constitution. With federalism abolished, Myanmar adopted a strictly centralized power structure with the military at its core. Very little has changed since the 1962 coup; the military has remained in power in various guises ever since. The 1974 constitution laid down provisions for seven "divisions" - where the majority Bama live - and seven ethnic states but there was no difference between those administrative entities. The new 2008 constitution grants the formation of local assemblies and the old divisions have been renamed "regions", but Myanmar is a Union only in name. The first chapter of the new constitution enables "the Defense Services to be able to participate in the National political leadership of the State." (sic) Colonial construct When Suu Kyi first broached a "Second Panglong" after her release from house arrest in November 2010, she received the backing of several ethnic leaders and organizations, among them the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the All Mon Regions Democracy Party, and the Rakhine (Arakan) Nationalities Development Party. At the same time, several pro-government bloggers branded her a "traitor" for resurrecting the autonomy granting agreement. Among them was a "Myanmar patriot" who wrote last November in a commentary on the exile-run Irrawaddy's website: "The incoming Parliament must make Panglong illegal! Anyone who promotes Panglong must be tried for treason, for endorsing the divide-and-rule of colonizers. NO way! We will fight all the way to stamp out traitors." Suu Kyi has since gone quiet on a "Second Panglong" but the problem with the new constitution and its centralized power structure remains a huge obstacle to achieving lasting peace in ethnic areas. Even if such a conference was convened, the procedure would be the reverse of what it was during the independence struggle of the 1940s. In January 1947, colonial authorities set up what was known as the Frontier Areas Committee of Enquiry, which held talks with representatives of various ethnic groups. The Panglong Agreement was signed under colonial rule and half a year later an elected Constituent Assembly gave the country a new federal constitution under which independence was declared. Myanmar, then known as Burma, is a colonial creation that includes nationalities which historically had little or nothing to do with each other until British authority was established over the old Bama kingdom and a horseshoe-shaped ring of surrounding mountain ranges. Even today, there are remote tribal areas where the local people do not even know that they belong to a country called "Burma," or even less so "Myanmar." Myanmar's new military-drafted constitution is a non-federal one which ethnic representatives have been pressured to accept and lay down their arms in the name of national reconciliation. The constitution was ostensibly drawn up by a National Convention which met on and off over a 15 year period. Its delegates, however, were mostly handpicked by the then ruling military junta. Ethnic group representatives were clad up in their respective colorful national costumes for the spectacle and spent most of the time listening to endless speeches rather than discussing their regions' futures. A prominent Shan representative, Khun Htun Oo, was even charged with high treason and sentenced to 93 years imprisonment for criticizing procedures relating to the National Convention. He was released in January this year along with several hundred other political prisoners. None of the ceasefire agreements which the government has concluded with more than 20 big and small rebel groups since 1989 includes any political concessions by the central government. Rebels have in some instances been granted unofficial permission to retain control over their respective areas - and been encouraged to engage in any kind of business to sustain themselves. The government's strategy seems to have hoped rebel groups would be more interested in making money than pressing demands for constitutional reform and political autonomy. That strategy is obviously not working, as the flare-up of hostilities in the northern Kachin State shows. On the other hand efforts by the various ethnic resistance forces to form a united front - or even to devise a common political platform - have also failed miserably. Most neutral observers familiar with Myanmar's ethnic issues would argue that the conflict is not only between the Bama and other nationalities but also between different minority ethnic groups. For instance, tensions have existed for centuries between the Kachin and the Shan, between the Shan and the Karen. A smaller group, the Pa-O, even took up arms in the early 1950s to fight against local Shan princes. In later years, Shan and Kachin rebels fought turf wars for control of areas in the country's northeast which have sizable Kachin populations but belong to Shan State. Even more recently, the Shan and Wa armies have fought bloody battles for control of areas adjacent to Thailand's border. Ethnic divisions It is also clear that the different backgrounds of Myanmar's multitude of ethnic groups, many with armed insurgent wings, will make it difficult to achieve a lasting solution to the problem. The insurgency among the Karen, who number at least 3.5 million and live in the Irrawaddy delta southwest of the old capital Yangon and in hills near the Thai border, is one of the longest lasting in the world. Many of them are Christian, mainly Baptist, and they have dominated most Karen rebel movements for more then six decades. The majority of the Karen, however, are actually Buddhist and fierce battles have been fought between the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the forces of the Christian-led Karen National Union. The Shan are Buddhist and related to the Thais and the Laos, and traditionally have been ruled by feudal princes called saohpa, or "Lords of the Sky." They took up arms when the Panglong Agreement's 10-year-trial period was up in 1958 and it was clear that they would not be allowed to exercise their then constitutional right to secede from the union. The Kachin in the far north are almost entirely Christian, also mainly Baptist. Their rebellion broke out in 1961 when the then U Nu government tried to make Buddhism the state religion and at the same time had negotiated a border agreement with China which many Kachins disapproved. Shortly after the war broke out, Kachins, whose guerrilla warfare skills were recognized and utilized by Britain and the United States during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, quickly seized control of most of their rugged hill country between China and India. The government has consistently failed to dislodge the Kachin from the geographical strongholds they established in the 1960s. The strongest and most powerful of Myanmar's ethnic armies, the drug-trafficking United Wa State Army (UWSA), has recently received scant attention. Its more than 30,000 men and women in arms are equipped with sophisticated weaponry obtained mainly in China, including modern automatic rifles, heavy machine-guns, 120mm mortars, and even man-portable, surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles. The UWSA was born out of a mutiny among the Wa hilltribe rank-and-file of the CPB in 1989 where they drove the old, orthodox communist and mainly Bama leaders into exile in China. The CPB subsequently crumbled and was later divided into four regional ethnic armies of which the UWSA was the strongest. Currently the UWSA controls a huge area adjacent to the Chinese border, enclaves along the Thai border in the south, and most of the lucrative production areas of narcotics, opium, heroin and methamphetamines in the Myanmar sector of the so-called Golden Triangle. The Wa have never been controlled by any central government in Myanmar. They were headhunters well into modern times and few outsiders entered the area before it was taken over by the insurgent CPB in the early 1970s. Since the 1989 mutiny, the UWSA has independently administered the areas it controls. The pre-2010 elected government requested that all of those ethnic armies convert themselves into "Border Guard Forces" under command of the Myanmar Army. That proposal, however, had few takers; only some of the smallest former rebel groups agreed. For now, the plan seems to have been put on ice but it is unclear how the government aims to tackle the issue over the medium term. At the same time, there has been no deviation from the previous ceasefire strategy: stop fighting, engage in business, and forget any visions of a federal Myanmar. According to sources familiar with recent government-ethnic group negotiations, ethnic leaders have been told that "a discussion about federalism is not even on the table." On the other hand, there are few countries in the world that have a federal system based on ethnicity or along linguistic lines. India, the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia are a few examples and show the perils ahead for such a potential model in Myanmar. India has survived and despite all the problems that country faces is perhaps the best model for Myanmar to adopt. The United States has geographical entities as member states of a union, Germany is based on ancient kingdoms and principalities, and even multinational Malaysia has a federal system based not on ethnicity - there are no Malay, Chinese and Indian states there - but on the old Malay sultanates. Whichever model Myanmar aims to follow, it cannot be done unless significant clauses in the present constitution are amended. Most of these, including those concerning state structure and ultimate military control over the decision-making process, cannot be considered without the approval of at least 75% of all parliamentarians in both the Upper and Lower Houses and would need to be enshrined through a national referendum. In practice, this makes any fundamental constitutional reform impossible. Scrapping the 2008 constitution and drafting a new one based on some kind of federal concept is likely the only viable way ahead to resolving Myanmar's unresolved ethnic issue. Judging from the government's response to ethnic demands, that isn't likely to happen any time soon. Whatever the outcome of the present mass movement and the likelihood of some token NLD representation in parliament after the April 1 by-elections, Myanmar's ethnic quagmire will endure and the government's half-hearted calls for national reconciliation will remain unfulfilled. Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review and author of several books on Burma/Myanmar, including Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Democracy (Published in 2011). He is currently a writer with Asia-Pacific Media Services. (Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NC08Ae02.html --------------------------------------------- Kachin War Aid Largely a Local Affair By SIMON ROUGHNEEN / THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, March 7, 2012 LAIZA, Kachin StateWith headlights dimmed it is difficult to spot every rubble-strewn crest-and-wave in time, and the surrounding dark enhances the jolts from the bumps and hollows in the coiling road from Laiza to Jeyang camp. It is just a 15 minute drive from Laizaheadquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)to Jeyang, site of the largest camp for the estimated 70,000 people driven from their homes by fighting in the region. The current conflict began in June 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire between the KIO and Burmese government. The Jeyang camp sits a stone's throw from the Burma-China border, marked by a river of the same name, and in what in daytime is sun-lit valley floor, walled off on either side by haze-topped, tree-lined slopes. The sun, as it turns out, keeps the camp lit at night as well. Pointing to the somewhat faint street lamps, arranged at 10-yard intervals either side of the road through the camp, Kachin activist San Naw said the KIO got those lamps from China. They are solar-powered and charge up during the day so there's some light in the camp at night. The previous morning, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) varnished newly-made latrine huts, while nearby hundreds of children attended a camp school run by teachers who fled the same villages as the rest of the 5,600 population. Headmaster Hkun San escaped Ban Dawng village, 20 miles from Laiza, as Burmese troops approached in August 2011. We do not have enough classroom space here, and we have only 32 teachers for 1,056 students, he said. The camp is managed and largely-funded by the KIO, although officials such as KIO Relief Committee head Labang Doi Pyi Sang are reluctant to talk up the group's work with IDPs, saying they are just doing what they can to help. We try as much as we can to replicate their village life here, he says, pointing to the wood-and-bamboo buildings close by. A school, clinic and market lie to the left, with Baptist and Catholic churches to the right. The mostly Christian Kachins are an ethnic minority who number around one million people living in Burma's northern reaches. Local NGOs are supplementing the KIO effort. At Mai Ja Yang, another KIO stronghold on the China border but several hours drive from Laiza, there are around 5,000 IDPs from northern Shan State. Some stay at accommodation intended for Chinese casino workers who fled soon after the onset of fighting last summer. Hkawng Nan, a 19-year-old nurse working at a temporary clinic set up to assist IDPs in Mai Ja Yang, said, we don't always have enough things and sometimes have to send people to the hospital when we run out. In the IDP camp nearby, children show signs of skin infection, said Nag Zing Bawkwa, a doctor at Mai Ja Yang Hospital. We see many cases of diarrhea and respiratory conditions, he adds. Some of the displaced now staying around Mai Ja Yang are supported by Wunpawng Ninghtoi (WPN), a local NGO. We are trying to look after 20,000 IDPs, says Maran Tu, the WPN vice-chairman at her office in Mai Ja Yang. WPN is part of a network called Relief Action Network for IDP and Refugees (RANIR) which is headed by La Rip. He told The Irrawaddy that the bulk of money for the relief effort comes from the KIO and other Kachin organizations. Forty percent is from the KIO and another 20 percent from Kachins in China, the USA, Thailand, the UK and more still from Kachin church groups, he explains. He says that the relief effort has been mostly unsupported from outside, aside from diaspora Kachin, adding that we have spent around 500 million kyat in helping the IDPs. We have received some small donations, he says, but the INGOs [international NGOs] say that we don't have the capacity here to work to their international standards, and they would like to come here and do the work themselves. RANIR's office telephone number is written on a note posted at eye-level beside the main door at the KIO headquarters. In rebel-held Kachin areas, the dividing line between the KIO and NGOs is not so cleara nexus in keeping with what is often the case in territories where civil conflict takes place. La Rip is aware of this dilemma, which frequently comes up in policy and academic debates on delivering international humanitarian assistance to war zones. The UN and INGOs often operate in rebel-held areas around the globe, or work in tandem with local NGOs in locations where complete independence is not assured or clear. Barbara Manzi is head of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in Rangoon. Speaking by telephone, she says that the UN is currently discussing ways to access all areas of Kachin State where IDPs are located. We are aware that various local partners have done good work, she says, adding that it is not correct to make judgments about one organization or another. The international NGOs are concerned about impartiality, says La Rip. They think that we are too close to the KIO. But, he asks, What option do we have? The UN is not here, the NGOs are not here. Only the KIO has the trucks and the money to bring supplies to the camps, up high in the mountains. Should we just leave the IDPs alone, and not help, just to try prove some sort of 'independence'? We [the KIO] have spent two billion kyat on helping the 46,000 IDPs already, says Labang Doi Pyi Sa.There are over 30 camps in our territory, but some are up in the mountains where it is cold and hard to reach. It is a big burden and impossible for us to take care of the IDPs on our own. Barbara Manzi acknowledges that the existing conditions for humanitarian work are challenging, adding that the looming monsoon season, due in April, will make aid work even more difficult. So with no end to the fighting in sight, and the rainy season approaching, the needs of IDPs will likely grow. We will need more plastic and tarpaulins for shelter, says Maran Tu. And more medical supplies, as the rain will bring disease. Pointing to the several families gathered in the WPN yard, collecting their twice-monthly ration of rice, oil, salt, soya beans, dry fish and soap, he adds that right now we need around 100,000 yuan per day just to feed the 20,000 IDPs we support. The Irrawaddy sought comment from Oxfam and Tr re (the Irish section of Caritas, the Catholic Church's humanitarian and development agency) as two NGOs that have contributed to helping Kachin IDPs. However, neither organization replied at the time of publication. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23163 ------------------------------------------- Myanmar, New Zealand to promote bilateral ties, cooperation (Xinhua) 11:07, March 07, 2012 YANGON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and New Zealand have vowed to promote bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries after a new civilian government was set up in March 2011, official media reported Wednesday. Views on the move were exchanged between Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin and his visiting New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday, reported the New Light of Myanmar. McCully, who is currently on his first visit to Myanmar since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Myanmar and New Zealand in November 1954, also met with Myanmar President U Thein Sein Tuesday. McCully also met with U Shwe Mann, speaker of the parliamentary House of Representatives. The pair discussed further strengthening of bilateral ties between the two countries in their meeting. McCully is due to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, chairwoman of the National League for Democracy, later on Wednesday. According to earlier report, as part of the two countries' bilateral cooperation, the New Zealand Trades Enterprise Limited ( NZTE) has been providing technical assistance to Myanmar business enterprises since 2010 to help develop some sectors of the country such as milk and dairy products production, construction of modernized milch cow breeding farms and motor cars production. Besides, the NZTE joined a Myanmar Nwe Win private company in investing in building an artificial beach in the country's northernmost Kachin state. The project also involves investment from Japan, Australia and China. The project, located near the bank of Ayeyawaddy river, stands a short distance to the Lido highway connecting India, Myanmar and China. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7750462.html --------------------------------------------- Burma's Charities Still Can't Get Licenses By HPYO WAI THA / THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, March 7, 2012 RANGOONWhile President Thein Sein was offering partial credit to civil society for Burma's successful transition to democratization in his first annual inauguration speech to the country last week, most of the privately run NGOs in the country are still operating without approval from the government. Their registrations are still pendingmostly for unknown reasonsand many have been waiting for years for official permission while at the same time offering their services to needy people across the country. Former Burmese movie star Kyaw Thu, chairman and founder of the Free Funeral Services Society, watches as the body of a monk is carried to a hearse in Rangoon in 2011. (PHOTO: Reuters) "We have been waiting to get officially registered since 2008," said Kyaw Thu, the president of Free Funeral Service Society (Rangoon), on Monday. FFSS, a nongovernmental and apolitical organization that has been supported by well-wishers from inside and outside Burma, has been operating free funeral services since 2001. The Society applied to renew its license nearly four years ago. "The authorities concerned in Naypyidaw said they had already given the green light to our case to those in Rangoon Division, said one-time actor Kyaw Thu to The Irrawaddy. But the officials in Rangoon said they still haven't received any official letter to extend our registration." In a country where an assembly of more than five people is banned for fear of political unrest, anyone who wants to set up a group or organization is required to apply for official permission to operate. Otherwise, they are likely to be outlawed or disbanded. Kyaw Thu added that working without government registration caused some setbacks in FFSS operations which consist ofapart from free funeral serviceshumanitarian work, a charity clinic service and free education. "We had logistic problems with the local authorities in Pakokku, an upcountry town in Burma, during the last rainy reason when we went there for flood relief efforts, he said. They said we our license was invalid." Without the renewed registration, he couldn't upgrade his clinica charity service that now treats more than 200 patients a dayinto a hospital where it can perform optical surgery free of charge. All the necessary medical instruments are ready. What we desperately need is a new license," the FFSS president said. Under the military dictatorship, Burma had seen the awakening of volunteerism in the social work sector, especially in health and education, where the junta was not interested in providing for the welfare of its people. Since then civil society groups have mushroomed. "We have applied for an official license since 2008, and I was informed I would get it soon but I don't know exactly when," said Myint Aye, the president of Parami Social Work Organization which focuses on free funerals, blood donations and humanitarian relief work in Phakant ,a provincial town in war-torn Kachin State in northern Burma. Khin Soe, the secretary of Chan Mya Thazi Civil Society in Mandalay that boasts at least 50 privately run social welfare organizations, said that about 90 percent of them are still waiting in line to become officially approved. The society has been in service since 2010, providing funeral, blood donation and health care services free of charge to the community. "We are doing what the government shuns to do. What we are doing is nothing political. It'd be better for us if we had government approval for our work," said Khin Soe. Kyaw Thu said the people in power need to know what is happening on the ground, and should pay official visits to understand the real situation. "The president praised civil society groups in his speech but is he aware of the fact that most of us haven't yet been officially recognized? There's no peace in Kachin State either. As long as his orders are neglected, his efforts will become useless. What a shame!" said Kyaw Thu. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23161 ------------------------------------------ NLD to build trust between army and peopl e By Win Ko Ko Latt in Shan State MYANMAR TIMES; Volume 31, No. 617 March 5 - 11, 2012 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi waves to supporters during a by-election rally in Yangon Regions Thongwa township on February 26. Pic: AFP DAW Aung San Suu Kyi has called on the military to support the countrys fledgling democratic system. The National League for Democracy chair said during a one-day visit to southern Shan State on March 1 that she wanted to see better relations between the people and the Tatmadaw. I will say what the people dare not say, which is that we want our Tatmadaw to stand for democracy, she told supporters in Heho township on March 1. She also urged members of the Tatmadaw to vote for her party in the April 1 by-elections. I am the daughter of Bogyoke Aung San, father of independence. I was born into a Tatmadaw family. I want to see a warmer relationship between the people and Tatmadaw based on trust. She also urged people to vote based on the policy and tradition of a political party rather than personality. I request people openly to vote for my party. My party is also getting ready to obey the peoples wish, she said in Kalaw township. She said people need to have unity but not necessarily need to agree on everything. Respect and recognition of other cultures, traditions and languages was also important for national development. The basic requirement for national development is unity. We cannot establish a prosperous country without it. Our party also recognises the equal rights of ethnic people. We want to see our country as a genuine democratic union, she said. Rule of law is as important as internal peace. Our country cannot go as it did in the past. We need political, economical and social reform. http://www.mmtimes.com/2012/news/617/news61702.html -------------------------------------------- Japan, U.S. mull debt reduction for Myanmar -Nikkei 07 Mar 2012 01:59 Source: reuters // Reuters TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) - Japan, the United States and major international financial institutions will start talks on large-scale debt reduction for Myanmar as early as this month, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday. The restructuring could effectively write off hundreds of billions of yen in loans to Myanmar. It would pave the way for economic assistance on the basis of Myanmar taking further steps towards democracy, the Nikkei said, without citing sources. It would open the door for Japan to resume yen loans to Myanmar, which stopped in 1987. Japan is Myanmar's biggest source of foreign aid, with development assistance loans to the country worth 400 billion yen ($4.95 billion) in arrears. Myanmar owes a total of around 100 billion yen to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and other multilateral lenders, facing the need to cut its debt load to gain access to new credit, the Nikkei said. While coordinating with the United States, Germany, the World Bank and other stakeholders, Japan intends to step up aid discussions with Myanmar's government, the Nikkei said. One proposal would have Japan provide bridging loans to help speed repayment to multilateral lenders, it said. Last month, the United States eased some restrictions on Myanmar to support work by institutions such as the Asian Development Bank which are carrying out economic assessments, and giving technical assistance to its new civilian government. The former military junta has made way for a nominally civilian government that embarked on a major reform drive, freeing hundreds of political prisoners, loosening media controls and engaging with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Some expect U.S. and European sanctions to begin to be lifted if by-elections on April 1, in which Suu Kyi will run for parliament, are free and fair. A November 2010 general election was widely criticised as a sham. ($1 = 80.7350 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Daniel Magnowski) http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/japan-us-mull-debt-reduction-for-myanmar--nikkei ---------------------------------------------------- Illegal Aliens or Refugees? 100,000 Burmese Chin Christians in India By Michelle A. Vu , Christian Post Reporter March 6, 2012|6:06 pm WASHINGTON Some 100,000 ethnic Chins from Burma have fled torture and religious persecution in their homeland to take refuge in Mizoram state in eastern India, where they make up an astounding 10 percent of the population but on paper they don't exist. This problem the Chins' legal non-existence in Mizoram brought together a panel of humanitarian experts on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about the plight of this highly overlooked ethnic group 90 percent of which is Christian at a media event for the release of the 134-page report, "Seeking Refuge: The Chin People in Mizoram State, India." "Partially due to difficulty with access into Chin state in Burma and Mizoram in India, there has been much less focus on the Chin situation than it really warrants," said Joel Charny, vice president for humanitarian policy and practice at Interaction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based relief and development organizations. "This report shines a badly need light on a painful, neglected situation." The Chin people are from Chin State in western Burma. Since 1988, tens of thousands of Chins have fled to neighboring Mizoram to escape ethnic, political, and religious persecution under the notorious Burmese military regime. There are an estimated 100,000 Chins in Mizoram state. Until January 2011, foreigners were not allowed into the eastern Indian state. A delegation, that included panel members, traveled to India from April 7 through May 2, 2011, to assess the situation of the Chin people in Mizoram. What they found was a little-reported, long-term, urban refugee problem that included the Chins in India being considered illegal aliens and therefore in constant danger of arrest, fines, and deportation even though they could face torture and death if returned home. Like us on Facebook Because the Chins in Mizoram are undocumented and not recognized as refugees, they cannot obtain legal work and mostly resort to manual labor, farm work, construction work, selling goods in markets, and maid service to earn a living. It is not unusual for them to be underpaid, but they cannot report it to local authorities out of fear of being arrested or deported. Matthew Wilch, a U.S. human rights lawyer and the lead writer of the report, described the Chins' financial situation in Mizorum as "chronic economic instability." Eviction of Chin families from their rented home is very common. It is especially hard for Chin children born in Mizoram because they are stateless and their parents often don't have enough money to enroll them in school. Jenny Yang, director of advocacy and policy for the Refugee and Immigration program at World Relief and a member of the team that visited Mizoram last year, said, "[I]t (the 2011 trip to Mizoram) was also unique in that there was virtually no international presence, no non-government organization. And UNHCR didn't have a presence at all, which meant that the protection challenges and humanitarian challenges that the refugees face was that much more urgent because they have no international body providing protection for this group of people." Yang recalled that during the trip to Mizoram, she met a woman who was crying while recalling her plight. The Chin woman shared to Yang that Burmese military officials had detained and tortured her 18-year-old brother out of suspicion that he was a pro-democracy activist. After two weeks of being tortured in jail, her brother died. His body was released to her parents and it was after this that the Burmese military realized that her brother was not a pro-democracy activist but only a student. The woman said that her other brother was also tortured in jail, and his left hand was cut off. With only one hand left, her brother fled to Mizoram to escape being detained again. Back in Chin State, the woman was a teacher and had two children. But one day she reported to authorities that one of her 14-year-old students was raped by two Burmese soldiers. While at the market that week, the woman's friends informed her that Burmese authorities were at her home. Upon hearing that, she fled to Mizoram, where she lives with her handicapped brother and her parents. "There is no assistance program or protection for them whatsoever in Mizoram," Yang stressed. "Even as these refugees are fleeing persecution in Burma, they flee to India where there is no protection for them at all, and the fear they have is perpetual not just in Burma but in India as well. "Without the legal status of a lot of these refugees, without some sort of documentation, what we found is that this lack of protection has affected literally every single aspect of their lives: their livelihood, their access to healthcare, their access to education, and literally every aspect of their lives. They live not only in fear, but on the margins of a society because they are not recognized as refugee in Mizoram state." The panel recommendation includes that the central government of India maintain the lifting of the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) so that humanitarian organizations, governments and individuals can travel to Mizoram state to meet with those affected by the Chin refugee problem and find a solution. It also recommends the Indian government and UNHCR establish and maintain refugee protection for Chins in partnership with the international community, and for the Indian government to provide Chins with legal status and access to legal and court protections so they will be freed from the threat of arrest and deportation. Another recommendation is for the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, the Czech Republic and other countries and the European Union to partner with the central government of India and Mizoram to provide refugee protection and assistance to Chins. India's Mizoram state is overwhelmingly Christian, with 95 percent of the 1 million population being followers of Jesus. "I cannot overstate the importance of the Christian community and church in Mizoram state," noted Jenny Yang. "The influence of the church, whether it is the Presbyterian church, the Baptist church, or the Catholic church especially, is critical and they will continue to be critical in providing any kind of assistance to refugees in the future." http://www.christianpost.com/news/illegal-aliens-or-refugees-100000-burmese-chin-christians-in-india-70954/ ------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post Prayuth asks Myanmar, Laos to curb fires Published: 7/03/2012 at 02:14 AM Newspaper section: News Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has asked the Myanmar and Lao governments to help curb forest and farmland fires near border areas in a bid to tackle the haze problem in the North. Haze has affected not only the northern part of Thailand but also nearby border towns in Myanmar and Laos, said Gen Prayuth yesterday. Smoke from forest fires and slash-and-burn activities in neighbouring countries is believed to have contributed to the haze. Chief opposition whip Jurin Laksanavisit said the opposition would file an interpellation in parliament demanding the government explain what it has done to ease the problem. In Chiang Rai province, the level of haze-induced air pollution is still higher than 120 microgrammes per cubic metre (ug/cu m), the safe level. Chiang Rai city is covered by smog. Chettha Mosikrat, head of Chiang Rai's disaster prevention and mitigation office, said the levels of dust particles in the air in Chiang Rai and nearby provinces posed a serious concern. Farmers in neighbouring countries and in northern provinces have continued to burn weeds on their farmland. A ridge of high pressure in the region, which results in dust particles lingering in the air for longer periods, has also worsened air pollution in the provinces, said Mr Chettha. Prime Minister's Office Minister Woravat Au-apinyakul met authorities in Chiang Mai yesterday to discuss anti-haze measures. Chiang Rai's disaster mitigation office has sprayed water into the air to increase humidity and lower dust levels. The office also distributed face masks to people in residential areas. Phayao governor Maitree Inthusut has led the province's campaign against weed burning by farmers. The province has encouraged farmers to plough their land to root out weeds instead of burning them to prepare the land for new crops. In Nan, Muang district municipality deployed fire trucks to spray water around the municipal area. The level of fine dust in the province yesterday was about 152 ug/cu m, which is above the safe level.http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/283206/prayuth-asks-myanmar-laos-to-curb-fires
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
News &Articles on Burma-Saturday, 03 March 2012-uzl
News &Articles on Burma Saturday, 03 March 2012 ----------------------------------------------- Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi Falls Ill, Leaves Rally Irrelevance is latest fear for Burma's exiles For Burma’s Exiled Journalists, the Promise of Reform Brings Peril and Possibility Burma conflict due to ‘misunderstanding’: Thein Sein Myanmar’s Suu Kyi feels ill at large campaign rally, consults with doctor As Myanmar thaws, decades-old civil war festers on In Myanmar, hopes for an art renaissance Myanmar: The long road to democracy President ‘must go beyond words’: Ko Ko Gyi --------------------------------------------- March 03, 2012 Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi Falls Ill, Leaves Rally VOA News Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech during her election campaign in Mandalay, March. 3, 2012. Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi left one of the biggest rallies of her election campaign, telling aides she felt unwell. The 66-year-old pro-democracy leader flew from Rangoon to Mandalay, Burma's second largest city, Saturday, part of a rigorous campaign schedule ahead of by-elections on April 1. She told the crowd in Mandalay the road ahead would be difficult but that they should maintain their faith in a better future. She also said the crowd was the largest she had since since 1988, the year she led a pro-democracy uprising that was brutally put down by the former military regime. But Aung San Suu Kyi then left the stage, telling aides she felt weak and unwell. Doctors and aides say she was taken to a hotel room to rest and is feeling better. Aung San Suu Kyi announced weeks ago that she planned to run for parliament in Kawhmu, a poor district south of Rangoon. But a rival challenged her right to be a candidate, forcing the election commission to issue its ruling Tuesday approving her candidacy. The National League for Democracy is attempting to return to parliament for the first time since its landslide electoral victory two decades ago. The military prevented it from taking power at that time. The party refused to participate in elections in 2010 because of rules that ensured victory by a pro-military party and prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from being a candidate. But the government that came to power as a result has instituted a number of democratic reforms, including allowing the National League for Democracy to re-register as a political party. Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Burmas-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-Falls-Ill-Leaves-Rally-141289653.html ------------------------------------------------ Irrelevance is latest fear for Burma's exiles Thomas Fuller, March 3, 2012 MAE SOT, Thailand: For more than two decades, they were symbols of defiance against Burma's military dictatorship, campaigning tirelessly in foreign countries for regime change. Now that the government is earning plaudits for its program of reforms, though, hundreds of Burmese dissidents living abroad may need career counselling. ''It's becoming difficult to find things to complain about,'' said Aung Naing Oo, the deputy director of the Vahu Development Institute, an organisation in Thailand formed by Burmese student activists who fled Burma in the late 1980s. Such exiles, as they are known, have watched from afar as Burma has released hundreds of political prisoners, relaxed media censorship and allowed the symbol of Burmese democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, to begin campaigning for elected office. ''Things are moving on the inside,'' said Aung Naing Oo, who returned to Burma in early February. ''Everyone is basically hoping that they can go back.'' Over the years of Burma's isolation, the exiles were important liaisons between the country and the outside world. They persuaded Western governments to impose sanctions on the military regime and published opinionated but often valuable news and intelligence gleaned from sources inside Burma. But the global Burmese-dissident business may soon be out of business. Money for policy seminars is drying up, and foreign diplomats would now rather fly to Burma than have lunch with exiled dissidents, as President George Bush did during a visit to Thailand in 2008. If the changes in Burma have surprised many observers, they have been particularly disorienting for exile groups, many of which are based in Mae Sot, a Thai city on the Burmese border. ''I've spent half of my life with the revolution,'' said Myat Thu, a former student activist who came to Thailand more than two decades ago. He recounted his escape through the jungles of eastern Burma after the military quashed a popular uprising in 1988. He and his Thai wife, Khemitsara Ekkanasingha, run a cafe adorned with ''Free Burma'' stickers and pictures of Suu Kyi. Khemitsara began a campaign last year for the release of 200 women political prisoners in Burma, printing postcards and organising marches and vigils. Now, all 200 women have been released, and she is thinking about other causes to champion, perhaps related to global economic inequality. Other dissidents here say they want to continue working on Burma related issues, partly out of lingering mistrust of the government, but they are not sure how long they can stay in exile. The Democratic Voice of Burma, which was instrumental in disseminating images of the 2007 military crackdown in Burma, is based in Norway. Formerly, journalists caught in Burma working under cover for the Democratic Voice group were imprisoned. Now, Aye Chan Naing, the organisation's executive director and chief editor, says he is negotiating with the government about opening an official branch office inside the country. ''I think, within one or two years, if things keep moving in this direction, a lot of dissidents will move back, and the funding will dry up,'' he said. ''Some groups have been warned that this is their last year of funding.'' The President of Burma, Thein Sein, and his government have been trying to lure exiles back. Aung Min, a government minister, went to Thailand this month to woo dissidents, says Aye Chan Naing, who met with him. ''Ultimately, if you're an activist, you want to be where the action is,'' said Aung Naing Oo. ''If that action is not where you are, you have to move.'' But a number of dissidents say they are unpersuaded by the changes and are not considering returning home. ''I don't believe,'' said U Bo Kyi, the co-founder of an association based in Mae Sot that keeps a database of political prisoners. He fled Burma 13 years ago and says he is waiting for Burma's leaders to acknowledge and make amends for imprisonments, torture and many other abuses. ''We do not want revenge,'' he said. ''But we need recognition and reparations by the government.'' He is, above all, looking for an apology. ''Confession is very important for national reconciliation.'' Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/irrelevance-is-latest-fear-for-burmas-exiles-20120302-1u87g.html#ixzz1o4k6THxz ------------------------------------------- For Burma’s Exiled Journalists, the Promise of Reform Brings Peril and Possibility By Joe Jackson | @JoeJackson | March 2, 2012 | + "Some donors like to think Burma is changing very quickly and want us to move back, but the problem is, the government is not happy to allow us,” says Khin Maung Soe, managing editor of Democratic Voice of Burma, pictured at the media outlet's offices in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Feb. 16, 2012 When Burmese exile Aung Zaw, founder of the newsmagazine the Irrawaddy, went home for the first time in 24 years, he expected attention. Since he fled to Thailand in 1988, the erstwhile student protester has become one of the most admired exiled journalists. What he didn’t expect, though, was adulation from immigration officials. “Inside the airport, a young immigration officer smiled as I gave him my passport,” he writes in an essay about his homecoming. “Meanwhile, the people waiting in line behind me grew impatient as they were made to wait until my friendly interrogation was finally over.” A year ago, talk of a “friendly” interrogation at Rangoon’s airport might be interpreted as a dark joke. But Burma is changing, fast.When a nominally civilian government came to power last year, few had faith that reform was on the way. Since then, President Thein Sein has taken real steps: freeing political prisoners, signing peace agreements with ethnic rebels and loosening the state’s grip on the press. In August, the Irrawaddy became available online in Burma for the very first time. “People are more open to talk about politics,” Aung Zaw tells TIME. “They don’t have the fear, they are more hopeful.” In some ways, these are good days for Burma’s exiled journalists. Based in Chiang Mai, a sleepy city of ancient Buddhist temples in northern Thailand, the Irrawaddy saw its Burmese-language website get a record 222,270 unique visitors in January, up nearly 40% year on year. Burma is now home to the outlet’s second biggest audience after Singapore, with 42,250 monthly visitors. A wall featuring the Irrawaddy’s past covers in its small offices above a Thai-massage school bears testament to the coverage that’s made the publication vital reading over the years. “Where are sanctions taking Burma?” asks one from May 2001. “Burma’s long road to reconciliation,” reads a January 2004 issue. Meanwhile, Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which produces three hours of daily satellite TV, as well as radio and online content, from a small three-story office on the outskirts of Chiang Mai, is also flourishing. DVB estimates it now reaches 5 million to 10 million people across its various platforms, with its Burmese-language website getting 20,000 visitors a day and the English section pulling in 8,000 more. “They are very popular in Burma,” says Thiha Lynn, 28, who last year opened D-Lo, a Burmese restaurant in Chiang Mai where exiled journalists gather in the evening to eat beef curry and salads of pickled tea leaves. “It’s important. Government media and TV still don’t show the news, just how they want things.” (MORE: Chasing the Dragon: In Burma, All Conversations Seem to Lead to China) Indeed, journalists are still wary of the state. Burma’s military rulers have a long history of persecuting independent reporters and ranked among the world’s five worst jailers of the press for the past four consecutive years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Despite unprecedented reforms in 2011 and promises of a new, less restrictive media law this year, the country’s censorship rules remain among the strictest in the world, and foreign and exiled media personnel are still denied working visas. “Even if the media laws are amended, we can expect to face both soft and self-censorship in the future,” says Thiha Saw, chief editor of a Burma-based news weekly called Open News. “We need the Burmese exile media to tell the truth and print the stories that journals inside Burma cannot.” Burma’s President Thein Sein on Thursday vowed to build on the sweeping reforms it began last year. “There are a lot of open-minded people at the censorship board who realize that they have to abolish [it],” said Aung Zaw following lengthy meetings with Ministry of Information officials. So what’s next for exiled media? Some will move back to Burma, others are waiting to see what happens next. Mizzima, a Burma-focused news agency founded in India in 1998 with offices in New Delhi and Chiang Mai, has decided to move its operations to Burma and participate in meetings organized by the government to redraft the country’s media laws. Founding editor Soe Myint is reticent to discuss its current legal status and office locations, but insists the outlet wants to be part of the process from inside the country. “We believe that with the openings by the government, we are able to work,” he said in a phone interview from Rangoon. Khuensai Jaiyen, editor of the Shan Herald, a newspaper reporting on Burma’s Shan minority, said he plans to send a third of his staff into the country, adopting a “one foot in, one foot out” strategy. “It’s not the time to put all the eggs in the basket,” he said. The mainstays of the exiled-media scene, the Irrawaddy and DVB, have adopted a similarly cautious approach. Although Aung Zaw has been to Rangoon and a couple of reporters are heading into the country on assignment, there are no plans for relocation. “After 2015, we will know which direction the country’s going and how safe we are,” he says. DVB announced this week that its exiled reporters would be granted visas to carry out assignment inside the country for the first time since the organization was founded nearly two decades ago. The move follows meetings Wednesday between chief editor Aye Chan Naing — who was visiting Burma for the first time since fleeing in 1988 — and Information Minister Kyaw Hsan. But staff remain fearful of returning. “We’re still DVB. I don’t dare to go yet,” said a 30-year-old TV producer who reports anonymously because she still fears retribution for her work. In some ways, rapprochement threatens the very existence of exile media groups, most of which rely on donor funding. Among journalists in Chiang Mai, there is a pronounced fear that the promise of reform will cause donations to dry up. “Exile media are trying to redefine themselves, and their future will depend on a continuation of democratic reform,” says Lars Bestle, head of the International Media Support’s Asia program, which funds outlets like Mizzima. Some donors, like the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which spends around $750,000 on independent multilanguage media in Burma across print, radio, online and TV, are convinced of exiled media’s continued need wherever they are based. “Burma’s still a military-dominated state, and there’s still a role for the exile media,” insists Brian Joseph, NED’s senior director for Asia. He says exile outlets can — and should — still play an important role in the overall development of independent media in Burma. But funding is already a problem. Take DVB. In 2010, 16 donors stumped up $4.5 million. Last year, that dropped to $3.2 million from 13 donors. This year may be worse, thanks in no small part to an embezzlement scandal. (Last year, the company was forced to bring in PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate evidence that two managers siphoned off $370,000 for personal use.) A crucial annual donor meeting is scheduled for next month in Bangkok. Managing editor Khin Maung Soe is optimistic. “Some donors like to think Burma is changing very quickly and want us to move back, but the problem is, the government is not happy to allow us,” he said, adding without irony, “Who will cover corruption while censorship still exists?” Across town, the Irrawaddy is also struggling to secure its $1 million annual budget. It published its final quarterly magazine last month and is now online only. Staff numbers have been cut from a 2011 high of 65 to the current 45. The editor thinks they can meet 80% of the previous year’s budget in 2012. Beyond that, its donor-dependent business model looks vulnerable. Both the Irrawaddy and DVB confirmed they have attracted investment interest from within Burma. “I’ve had offers from tycoons, they want my brand” says Aung Zaw. “There are people who talk to me — ‘How much do you need?’ I’m offered a chopper, three of four vehicles … But I don’t make [a] decision. I don’t want to lose our independent voice.” Aung Zaw hopes to raise funds by boosting business coverage and, hopefully, revenue from online advertisers and individual donors. He insists Irrawaddy is not for sale. “The most immediate question,” he said, “is how to sustain this mission in a different time.” Read more: http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/03/02/for-burmas-exiled-journalists-the-promise-of-reform-brings-peril-and-possibility/#ixzz1o4im2Rea ------------------------------------------- Burma conflict due to ‘misunderstanding’: Thein Sein By AFP Published: 2 March 2012 Burma’s president said yesterday that his government wanted equal rights for ethnic minorities, the latest conciliatory gesture from the regime to armed rebel groups. Former general Thein Sein said in a speech to parliament that the authorities needed to end the “misunderstanding” with ethnic minorities, which he said was due to a lack of dialogue. “The expectation of ethnic groups is to get equal rights for all. Equal standards are also the wish of our government,” he said. “Confidence is very important for national reconciliation in our country.” Civil war has gripped parts of Burma since independence in 1948 and an end to the conflicts as well as alleged human rights abuses involving the military is a key demand of the international community. Thein Sein — a former junta premier who came to power almost a year ago after decades of outright military rule — has launched efforts to end ethnic conflict as part of a raft of reforms. The new army-backed government has reached tentative peace deals with several rebel groups including in eastern Karen and Shan states, but bloody fighting in northern Kachin has overshadowed reconciliation efforts. A presidential order issued in mid-December for the military to cease attacks against Kachin guerrillas failed to stop heavy fighting in the region, according to the rebels. Thein Sein acknowledged that the unrest had not yet ended but said he had instructed the military not to engage in combat except in self-defence. “Fighting will not stop by pointing the finger of blame at each other,” he added. “Ceasefires are needed on both sides first for political dialogue… We all have to work so our ethnic youths who held guns stand tall holding laptops.” Burma’s regime held initial peace talks with representatives of the Kachin Independence Organisation in January in China, with the two sides agreeing to hold further negotiations in search of an end to the conflict. http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-conflict-due-to-misunderstanding-thein-sein/20528 ------------------------------------------- Myanmar’s Suu Kyi feels ill at large campaign rally, consults with doctor By Associated Press, Published: March 3 MANDALAY, Myanmar — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi consulted with a doctor at a large campaign rally Saturday after telling the crowd that she felt unwell and dizzy. The doctor and other party members said the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate was feeling tired because of her rigorous campaign tour ahead of April 1 by-elections. Suu Kyi went to a hotel room and was recuperating after the rally, said Nge Nge, a personal aide who is also a physician. “She is feeling better now. She’s taking a rest,” Nge Nge told The Associated Press. Suu Kyi flew Saturday from Yangon to Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, and was greeted by what appeared to be the largest crowd so far in her election campaign, which has been hailed as another sign of how dramatically politics has changed in the country since a nominally civilian government took office a year ago and ended decades of military rule. Many tens of thousands of cheering supporters clogged the roads for several miles (kilometers) starting at Mandalay’s airport, slowing her convoy to a crawl until she reached a vast open field for a rally that was packed with tens of thousands more people. “I haven’t see such a huge crowd since 1988!” a smiling Suu Kyi told her cheering supporters, referring to a pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the former military regime. “The road ahead is rough and tough,” she said. “Democracy is hard to achieve and even if it is obtained, it will not be easy to sustain. We all have to work hard.” After speaking for a few minutes, Suu Kyi took a five-minute rest while senior party member Win Tin spoke to the crowd. Suu Kyi then returned to the podium. At one point she said, “I am not feeling well,” and also asked the tightly packed crowd to stay calm. “Please don’t push one another,” she said. “As I am feeling a bit dizzy, it looks like a huge wave from the stage when the people are pushing at one another. If you love me, don’t make me dizzy.” Suu Kyi left the stage after speaking for a total of about 15 minutes. “She is very tired after a more than three-hour drive from the airport to the venue. She felt airsickness during the flight too and was feeling a bit weak,” Nge Nge said. Suu Kyi was scheduled to speak at another rally near Mandalay on Sunday. Suu Kyi has devoted much of her life to a struggle against authoritarian rule. She spent 15 of the past 23 years under house arrest and has never held elected office. If she wins a seat in parliament, she is likely to have limited power because the legislature remains dominated by the military and the ruling party, but victory would be highly symbolic and give her a voice in government for the first time. The April election is being held to fill 48 seats vacated by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet or other posts last year. The ballot is seen as a test of the government’s commitment to democratic change after nearly half a century of iron-fisted army rule. Suu Kyi had originally planned a trip to Mandalay last month but canceled it after failing to receive permission to hold a political gathering at a football stadium. Suu Kyi commented earlier this week that there were “a few bumps and pitfalls” in the campaign process. “We’re not happy with the way in which our right to campaign freely is restricted in some areas. Not in too many areas, but still I would hesitate to say that everything is going smoothly and everything is in line with the basic principles of democratic elections,” she said. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/myanmars-suu-kyi-tells-large-crowd-at-campaign-rally-she-feels-ill-consults-with-doctor/2012/03/03/gIQA3Y9NoR_story.html ----------------------------------------------- As Myanmar thaws, decades-old civil war festers on By DENIS D. GRAY Associated Press Created: 03/03/2012 05:04:02 AM PST TSINYU MOUNTAIN, Myanmar—The seasoned guerrilla officer surveys the battlefield from his do-or-die mountaintop defenses: to the front, visible through the haze, a town torched and brutalized by Myanmar government troops. To his rear, the stronghold of the country's most potent insurgency, one of several ethnic rebellions that erupted more than 60 years ago. As a hopeful world cheers surprising democratic moves by the military-backed government and weighs the lifting of economic sanctions, the rebels of Kachin state still are fighting for the freedoms that were promised them in 1947, as the country then called Burma was breaking free of the British Empire. Elsewhere in the country, the government has negotiated fragile cease-fires with rebel groups, leaving Kachin State as home to the last full-blown rebellion. Here, hostilities erupted anew last year and have driven at least 60,000 from their homes in an escalating refugee crisis. Killings, torture and rapes by government troops also persist, as do sporadic clashes, according to human rights groups. Peace with the ethnic minorities who make up 40 percent of the population is widely seen as crucial if Myanmar is to emerge from iron-fisted rule, underdevelopment, sanctions and diplomatic isolation. Continued violence against minorities also would make it difficult for the U.S. and other Western nations to lift their sanctions against Myanmar. The ethnic jumble is further complicated by geography—the Kachin sit on rich natural resources and are wedged between China and India. They also say they are struggling to preserve a unique culture and Christian religion against a central government bent on eradicating their identity and quest for autonomy. The Shan, Karen, Chin and other minorities, inhabitants of resource-rich border regions, share similar views. As the latest bout of fighting enters its 10th month, the Kachin and northern Shan states are a patchwork of government, insurgent and contested areas. "They have already thrown their maximum force against us and haven't succeeded," Maj. Pawm Mung Ra, a battalion commander in the Kachin Independence Army, said at the panoramic outpost. But he also is worried. His ridgeline defenses must hold if government troops make a push against Laiza, the rebellion's nerve center and an obvious target. With some 20,000 armed men and women, the Kachin army is outnumbered 2-1 on the battlefield but has a reputation for toughness. In mountains and jungles, they fought the Japanese alongside American and British troops in World War II. For their mix of cheerfulness and ruthlessness, their allies called them "the amiable assassins," a title that still seems valid. "They see our ragged uniforms and shabby huts and look down on us," said Nsai Mung Gawn, a young lieutenant. "They think it will be easy. We let them move up the hill and then detonate our land mines and let them have it. That shuts them up." Their endgame is a comprehensive solution to Myanmar's ethnic impasse, and though it may be far off, the Kachin say it has to be a critical component of the new, liberalizing Myanmar. "There is no way even for the pro-democracy opposition groups to be successful without solving the ethnic issues," said La Nan, spokesman of the Kachin Independence Organization, the insurgents' political arm. "For Burma, ethnic issues and democratic issues can never be separated. There will only be peace when these two issues are resolved." Only a few days ago, Kachin got a vivid taste of the astonishing changes that have come over Myanmar when Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader just freed from house arrest, visited the regional capital and offered words of reconciliation. "It is impossible to achieve development without peace in our country," she said. "The suffering of Kachin people is the suffering of Myanmar people and we all have to find a cure for these problems." For the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy icon, it is personal. The promise of autonomy and right to secede was made by her father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, in 1947 under the Panglong agreement only to become moot when he was assassinated the following year. The Kachin took up arms in 1961, following the Karen and other groups. A year later the military seized power. A 17-year cease-fire collapsed last June. The Kachin, according to La Nan, want a withdrawal of government forces from Kachin areas and a cease-fire monitored by foreign observers, followed by a new constitution that would in effect turn back the clock to 1947 and a federal union. The Kachin realize, though, that replacing a highly centralized state with a federal system will prove a formidable challenge. One hope is China, Myanmar's biggest backer, which plans to build roads and a gas pipeline through Kachin territory to the Indian Ocean and badly wants the fighting to end. For now, the Kachin are accelerating the training of recruits, trying to cope with the swelling number of refugees and fueling their "self-reliant revolution" by taxing opium and the abundant resources scooped up by China and others, notably gold, timber and the world's finest jade. They run their virtual state-within-a-state out of Laiza, a town of 5,000 on the Chinese border with impressive government buildings, one of them a scaled-down version of the Pentagon. There is even a six-hole golf course with boys from a nearby refugee camp serving as caddies. On Sundays, the sounds of bells and hymns brought by 19th century American Baptist missionaries float across the deep valley from four Christian churches. Portraits of Jesus Christ adorn most homes, while the Kachin TV station intersperses combat footage with an animated cartoon depicting Moses parting the Red Sea to lead his people out of bondage. Clearly the Kachin view themselves as Christian warriors fighting evil forces. On Laiza's outskirts, 264 fresh recruits are beginning two months of basic training, practicing with wooden rifles before firing just four real bullets to save ammunition. A total of 5,000 have passed through training camps since fighting re-erupted last year. There's no shortage of volunteers, even if the monthly pay is $14, regardless of rank, says Maj. Kyaw Htwe, commander of the army's training battalion. "The Burmese help me get recruits when they kill our people," he says with a sardonic laugh. "The men and women that come to us are fighting for their own villages." At five Laiza area refugee camps, the homeless cite anything from theft of livestock by foraging soldiers to savage killings of suspected sympathizers with insurgents. Just the sound of distant gunfire can send entire villages fleeing. At Jeyang camp, more than 5,500 refugees from 37 villages get two tins of rice per person and some salt, and face malnutrition and disease. Maran Seng Ja Du, head of the camp, worries about coming monsoon rains. The shelter material is wearing thin, and since a small U.N. aid shipment arrived in December, the government has blocked others and China bars delivery through its territory. Myanmar President Thein Sein, architect of the reforms, ordered his troops to stop fighting in Kachin State in December while forging preliminary peace deals with the Karen, Shan and Chin. He appears eager to end the decades-long conflicts, although it is uncertain whether his government would accept the demands of the ethnic groups. "Since 1948, successive governments tried to solve the ethnic problems. But today, we have the best chance to solve this (through) political dialogue," said a government spokesman, Lt. Col. Ye Htut. However, Thein Sein's cease-fire order in Kachin State has so far had no effect, and the Kachin Independence Organization suspects it's a "good-cop, bad-cop" routine to curry favor with international opinion. "From the outside it seems like the government can't control the army but there is total agreement between them," La Nan said. "From afar, we haven't seen any genuine changes yet." Among the mountaintop bunkers and trenches defending Laiza, there is also a mix of disquiet and optimism, with a dash of contempt for their opponents. "If this mountain range falls then Laiza would fall for sure," says Maj. Pawm Mung Ra. "They're trying to advance step by step, but they are afraid of really fighting and we can cut their supply and communication lines," he says. "They don't know why they are fighting. They just get the order to go shoot and kill." Most envision a long, hard struggle. "Our own generation cannot enjoy peace," says 1st Lt. Somlut Law Lai, an outpost commander. "We hope that the next one will."Read more: http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_20094561#ixzz1o4gAX0bm ------------------------------------------ In Myanmar, hopes for an art renaissance 03/03/2012 YANGON, (Reuters) - Myanmar artist Nyein Chan Su's paintings have a breezy simplicity. Broad, colourful strokes and exaggerated figures, often in silhouette, capture an isolated country steeped in Buddhist culture but blighted by years of military rule. But selling them has been anything but simple. For two decades, sanctions imposed in response to human rights abuses kept tourism to a trickle, and those who visited found a country run on cash, not credit. Expensive paintings rarely sold. Cheap ones did. That kept a lid on prices. As Myanmar pursues reforms that may soon convince the United States and Europe to lift sanctions, Nyein Chan Su and other artists hope to emerge from the shadows. Prices, many expect, will rise. International gallery owners from New York to Hong Kong are already scouting for talent. "Once sanctions come down, we can show our work more and have a chance to earn more money," said Nyein Chan Su, 38, a founding member of Yangon's Studio Square, a cramped gallery shared by four friends from art school on the second floor in the back of an apartment complex in Myanmar's biggest city. A walk through his studio illustrates the problems. No single piece of art sells for more than $1,000, and most go for about half that, despite a roster of top contemporary artists. Compare that with Vietnam. Before the United States lifted sanctions in 1994, few Vietnamese paintings sold for more than $1,000. Today, its top artists can fetch 10 times that or more. Prices have already started to rise for Myanmar's most successful artist, Min Wae Aung, known for expansive canvasses of golden-robed monks, often shaded by pink rattan umbrellas and set against gold backdrops. "This one is $9,000," said Ma Thit, a manager at New Treasure Art Gallery, pointing to a portrait of four monks walking in sandals. Six years ago, she said, similar Min Wae Aung paintings sold for $6,000. "It goes up every two years or so, and there has been an increase in interest recently." But Min Wae Aung is the exception in a country where most artists have thrived in obscurity with limited resources, often in fear of state censors rooting out political messages in every song, book, cartoon and piece of art. He gained prominence in the 1990s with shows in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries that maintained ties with Myanmar while the West shunned the country following repeated human rights violations, including a 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protests that killed thousands. After 1998, when the Singapore Art Museum added his painting "Golden Monks" to its Southeast Asia collection, some U.S. and European galleries began to show his work. "WE ARE WAITING" But few artists come anywhere close to Min Wae Aung's stature. At New Treasure, one of Yangon's largest galleries, the average price is just $350 for pieces by other artists, said Ma Thit. "The tourists only usually bring a little bit of cash, and we only accept cash due to restrictions in using credit due to sanctions, so the price hasn't changed in years for most artists," she said. She smiles when asked if her prices would rise if sanctions were lifted? "Of course. We are waiting. The artists are waiting." Before 1993, the country of 60 million people only had two diploma schools of fine arts, one in Yangon and the other in Mandalay. A National University of Arts and Culture was founded in 1993, expanding traditional arts education in the former British colony, also known as Burma. "We found that there was a huge reservoir of artists, many artists of very good quality," said Sidney Cowell, owner of Asia Fine Art Gallery in Hong Kong. "The work with Myanmar, with Burmese artists is clean, is original and it's untainted. We haven't come across any copying. We haven't come across anything but fine art." Buddhist themes dominate many works. Tartie, an artist who goes by one name, for instance, depicts murals and stone carvings from pagodas and temples built between the 9th and 13th centuries in the ancient central city of Bagan where Burmese Buddhism first flourished. But he employs a graphic art-style that resembles modern illustration. "There are two major things that influence my art," he wrote of his work. "One of them is modern art and the other is Myanmar traditional line drawing that has existed throughout the ages. I learned modern art through books and line drawings through mural paintings, lacquer-ware and stone carvings." Overt political art is rare but that, too, is changing following a series of reforms since last year that ended nearly half-century of direct military rule. A legislature stacked with former generals has surprised skeptics by loosening its grip on censorship and other social controls. Bans on prominent news web sites have been lifted, including some run by government critics. A law that would do away with direct political censorship is being drafted. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose name was seldom spoken in public during her years of house arrest, now regularly appears in public, her face often emblazoned on magazine covers. "BIG OPENING" "This is an opening, and it's a big opening," said Richard Streiter, founder of ArtAsia NYC, a New York gallery that deals in Burmese art. "The door has swung open that was closed for decades, for many decades." Streiter, a former dean of the Pratt Institute, a private art college in New York, bought nine paintings of Suu Kyi on his latest visit to Yangon -- and one of her father, assassinated independence hero General Aung San. "What would have been controversial even only a year ago is no longer problematic," he said. But some artists such as Nyein Chan Su at Studio Square say it would take time for people to freely express themselves. "We have been under this system for over 30 years. We don't know whether the government has given us freedom or not. We are still psychologically in this system," he said. Rather than paint realistic portraits of Myanmar's troubled streets or impoverished countryside, his works "give the taste of escaping from the real outside world", he said. "There is a deep rooted mindset in the Myanmar people because of the difficult years we have had in our government," he said. "We need to erase this image. The government must change the paradigm and only then will we change." ------------------------------------------------ Myanmar: The long road to democracy by Korina Sanchez, ABS-CBN News Posted at 03/03/2012 8:26 PM | Updated as of 03/04/2012 12:34 AM MANILA, Philippines – A British Colony for almost 125 years, the former Burma won its independence in 1948. It installed into power a military junta, led by a senior general -- lasting another 50 years. The new name of Burma became Myanmar. Synonymous to Burmese recent history is the name Aung San Suu Kyi. Her father, General Aung San, was a prominent revolutionary in the 40's and was assassinated in 1947. After completing her studies abroad, Aung San Suu Kyi decided to never leave Myanmar and continue from where her father left -- actively opposing what then were world-denounced atrocities against her country and countrymen. Suu Kyi's name became known the world over and more so when she was placed under house arrest for all of 15 of the last 20 years. In 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Non-Violent Struggle For Democracy and Fight For Human Rights. Myanmar continues to suffer economic sanctions imposed by the Western Countries for these human rights violations by the military junta. But a new Constitution in 2008 provided for a planned democratic election in 2010 -- installing President Thein Sein into the country's leadership. This was seen as a clear sign of reform within Myanmar. The home of freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi is found in the heart of the city of Yangon. For more than a decade, the worldwide icon of democracy in Asia was under house arrest. Just last year, Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released from captivity, and the move is seen worldwide as the message of the Myanmar government that it is now ready for change, reform and development. The foreign press were allowed into Myanmar only last year. It is the hope of the Myanmar government that publicity on what is expected as clean and orderly elections this April will help convince the Western Countries to lift its economic sanctions against Myanmar and speed up investment and development. For the first time in the last 50 years, a Foreign Secretary of State entered Myanmar when Hillary Clinton came and had a meeting with government and with Suu Kyi to ask about the reported reforms. Former President Corazon Aquino once sought to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi but this could not happen then. But the democracy icon expressed her admiration for the former Filipino President and bridges her support to Cory Aquino's son, current President Benigno Aquino III. “With regards to Mrs. Aquino, I would like to say that we have always been grateful to her for the way in which she has supported us through out our very, very difficult years. We do not just admire her, we have great affection for her. And we have transferred the respect and admiration to her son who I hope will be following in her footsteps very closely,” she said. Aung San Suu Kyi is now busy campaigning for a seat in Parliament with elections coming up in April -- an aspiration she shares with what is believed as majority of the population who revere her as their living hero. --------------------------------------- President ‘must go beyond words’: Ko Ko Gyi By MIN LWIN Published: 2 March 2012 Burma’s president must go beyond rhetoric and firmly embed the reform programme in government policy, particularly with regard to rule of law, a prominent student activist has urged. Ko Ko Gyi’s comments came in response to a speech delivered by President Thein Sein yesterday in parliament in which he sought to “present a brief account of our government’s achievements” since coming to power one year ago on Thursday. He touted references in international media to the “Burma Spring”, in reference to the Arab Uprisings that toppled several autocratic rulers, and said that the country’s “stable and correct transition is gaining more and more international recognition”. But the rosy assessment of the country’s development was tempered by Ko Ko Gyi, who played a pivotal role in the 1988 and 2007 uprisings, for which he spent years in prison. He warned that “old habits” from the former military junta live on in the new administration, and that rule of law cannot be guaranteed until the government sets out to educate its citizens. “For the rule of law to become alive there is a need for education and awareness of law among the public,” he told DVB. “Without these, rule of law will not exist beyond words. We welcome the fact that the president is saying officially that there is a need for the rule of law [but] he needs to substantiate it.” “When talking about the law, we need to talk about the law-making process in connection with the parliament. What is the existing law being used for? Which laws are the ones blocking human rights? Which laws that protect the people and are useful for the people need to be made? “Only when there is a law-making parliament that represents the people and is free in accordance with their will, will the law become alive.” Thein Sein has embarked on a series of political and media reforms, and the government earlier this week agreed to grant DVB journalists visas to work legally in the country for the first time in the organisation’s 20-year history. The issue of whether exiles, many of whom fled the threat of lengthy imprisonment for their political work, can return is being hotly debated. Thein Sein began his speech by saying that he wished “all citizens who became expatriates for certain reasons … good health and happiness” He continued that Burma was witnessing “with pleasure the eager participation and assistance of overseas Myanmars [Burmese] from various parts of the world” and that a “new political generation” would contribute towards a “mature democracy”. Moe Thee Zun, an exiled democracy activist and one-time leader in the armed All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, thinks the reality for those who had fled the country is not so simple. “They say it often but in reality no one can come home,” he laments. “It doesn’t work out when they apply [for a visa]. Many dare not go back, I am told. “We need to issue a law such as a general amnesty. Only then would the exiles be able to go home. For example, in Vietnam, Cambodia and Somalia, they welcomed exiles with this kind of law.” http://www.dvb.no/news/president-%E2%80%98must-go-beyond-words%E2%80%99-ko-ko-gyi/20547
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