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