Burma Related News - Feb 19, 2008.
- From: TIN KYI <mtinkyi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:14:57 -0800 (PST)
*************************************************************
BURMA RELATED NEWS - FEBRUARY 19, 2008
*************************************************************
HEADLINES
*************************************************************
Reuters - Nobel laureates urge U.N. sanctions on Myanmar
Reuters - China must send "right signals" to Myanmar - U.N. envoy
AFP - Small bomb blasts in eastern Myanmar
AFP - Aung San Suu Kyi barred from Myanmar elections: FM
AFP - Japanese police probe journalist's slaying in Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar's wild elephants helping cut down their forest habitat
AP - UN envoy says Myanmar constitution move significant
AP - Myanmar Says Constitution Draft Is Ready
CNA - ASEAN ministers say Myanmar democracy roadmap must be credible
Xinhua - Myanmar private airline plane overruns runway, some injured
UPI - EU 'concerned' over democracy in Myanmar
Irrawaddy - Kachins Suspect Russian Company Drilling Uranium
Irrawaddy - Tay Za Takes Over Village for Its Jade
BBC News - Burma: Sandwiched between giants
DVB News - Locals coerced into joining USDA
DVB News - Officials conduct second raid on journal office
*************************************************************
Nobel laureates urge U.N. sanctions on Myanmar
Reuter - Wednesday, February 20
By Patrick Worsnip
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Nine Nobel peace laureates called
on the U.N. Security Council and the international community on
Tuesday to impose arms and banking sanctions on Myanmar for failing to
move toward democracy.
Myanmar's military rulers had "made no overtures and no progress on
national reconciliation" despite their people's desire for change,
said a statement by the laureates, led by South Africa's Anglican
Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
"They continue their refusal to engage the Burmese (Myanmar) people
and ethnic groups in substantive, meaningful dialogue," said the
statement, distributed by the U.S. Campaign for Burma which opposes
the Myanmar government.
The statement, also signed by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the
Dalai Lama, appealed to members of the Security Council and the
international community to rapidly adopt measures to prevent the sale
of arms to the Myanmar military.
It also called for a ban on banking transactions targeting top Myanmar
leaders as well as state and private entities that supported the
government's weapons trade.
Many Western countries including the United States, members of the
European Union and Australia already maintain economic and military
sanctions on Myanmar.
The Security Council issued a statement in October calling on the
junta to release political prisoners and hold a dialogue with the
opposition following a crackdown the previous month on monk-led pro-
democracy protests.
But prospects of the council imposing sanctions, which would have
worldwide effect, are dim because of strong opposition by Myanmar's
neighbor and trade partner China, which has a veto in the council.
Beijing restated its position on Tuesday during a visit by U.N.
Myanmar envoy Ibrahim Gambari. "At this time, pressure and sanctions
cannot solve any problems," a Foreign Ministry spokesman cited Vice
Foreign Minister Wang Yi as telling him.
Myanmar activists say China is the country's top arms supplier and
others include Ukraine, Poland, India and Russia.
Earlier this month, Myanmar's ruling generals announced a referendum
on a new, as yet unfinished, constitution in May, to be followed by a
general election in 2010.
But opposition leaders and some Western countries voiced skepticism
that the opposition would be allowed to compete in the vote and the
Nobel laureates described the junta's "road map" to democracy and
constitutional process as flawed.
Apart from Tutu and the Dalai Lama, the signatories were Shirin Ebadi
of Iran, Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina, Mairead Maguire and Betty
Williams of Northern Ireland, Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala and Elie
Wiesel and Jody Williams of the United States.
Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi herself won the
Nobel peace prize in 1991.
*************************************************************
China must send "right signals" to Myanmar - U.N. envoy
Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:59pm IST
By Lindsay Beck
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United Nations envoy to Myanmar called on
China on Tuesday to send the "right signals" to its military
government to ensure its plans for political reform and eventual multi-
party elections are inclusive and credible.
Earlier this month, Myanmar's ruling generals announced a referendum
on a new, as yet unfinished, constitution in May, to be followed by a
general election in 2010 -- moves toward reform that follow huge anti-
government demonstrations last year.
"This is a significant step as it marks the first time that we have an
established timeframe for the implementation of a political roadmap
with a clear objective," Ibrahim Gambari told reporters in Beijing,
where he met Chinese officials.
But the moves would only be credible if they were accompanied by the
release of political prisoners, lifting of restrictions on opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and if the generals allowed opportunities for
the expression of opinions on the constitution, he added.
"China -- and others -- should be sending that message," he said.
China is a neighbour and one of the few diplomatic allies of military-
ruled Myanmar, whose government has been under pressure to reform
since it cracked down on the pro-democracy protests that were led by
the country's Buddhist clergy last September.
"We ask China and others to send the right message, the right signals
to the authorities in Myanmar to continue to cooperate concretely"
with his office, Gambari said.
Asked if he felt he was closer to gaining access to Myanmar, which he
has not visited since November, Gambari said: "Yes", adding he
expected to visit again "well before April".
He was speaking after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and
other ministry officials, talks he described as "genuinely open
discussions, constructive discussions".
Beijing supported a U.N. Security Council statement deploring
Myanmar's violent crushing of the protests, the largest anti-
government movement there in 20 years.
But China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Council, has
stressed its support did not mean it would agree to harsher measures
against Myanmar, where it buys timber and has interests in the former
Burma's rich natural gas reserves.
On Tuesday, China repeated its position that Myanmar's troubles should
be resolved through dialogue, not sanctions.
"At this time, pressure and sanctions cannot solve any problems,"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao cited Vice Foreign Minister
Wang Yi as telling Gambari.
Gambari said China's engagement in the face of sanctions from Western
powers did not necessarily undermine moves toward political reform at
what he called a critical time for Myanmar.
"I think it works both ways," he said.
Countries that trade with Myanmar can leverage that "to send the right
messages that business and investment will be sustained by ... a
stable, democratic Myanmar with full respect for human rights",
Gambari said.
*************************************************************
Small bomb blasts in eastern Myanmar: report
Mon Feb 18, 10:56 PM ET
YANGON (AFP) - Four small bombs exploded almost simultaneously in the
eastern Myanmar border town of Tachilek, amid warnings from
authorities that ethnic insurgents could step up their attacks, state
media said Tuesday.
No one was injured in the blasts in the early hours of Monday at a
hotel and nearby tea shop, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper
said.
The first bomb exploded around 2:40 am Monday, damaging the hotel's
staff quarters, while three others went off at the tea shop just 100
feet (30 metres) away.
The paper gave no further details.
Tachilek sits on the Myanmar-Thai border in eastern Shan state, about
540 kilometres (335 miles) northeast of the nation's economic hub
Yangon.
Ethnic rebels in the Shan State Army (SSA) control much of that part
of the country, where they have fought for autonomy for nearly 60
years.
Myanmar's ruling junta warned on Saturday that insurgents could step
up their attacks following the assassination of the ethnic Karen rebel
leader Pado Mahn Sha in the Thai border town Mae Sot.
The junta accused the insurgents of plotting bomb attacks around the
country.
Myanmar has been hit by series of small bomb blasts and rebel
shootings since December, prompting the ruling junta to blame the
Karen National Union for the attacks.
Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, has signed ceasefires with 17
ethnic armed groups, but the KNU and the SSA are among the few yet to
sign a peace deal with the junta.
*************************************************************
Aung San Suu Kyi barred from Myanmar elections: FM
AFP - Wednesday, February 20
SINGAPORE, Feb 19, 2008 (AFP) - Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi is barred from running for election under the country's new
constitution because she had a foreign husband, Foreign Minister Nyan
Win told his fellow Southeast Asian ministers Tuesday.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said Nyan Win was clear on this
position during a dinner cruise off the city-state's waters of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers.
"We did discuss that," Yeo told reporters in response to a question on
whether Aung San Suu Kyi would be allowed to run in the 2010 vote
planned by Myanmar's military rulers.
"He (Nyan Win) was quite clear that in the new constitution, a Myanmar
citizen who has a foreign husband, who has children not citizens of
Myanmar would be disqualified as was of the 1974 constitution."
*************************************************************
Japanese police probe journalist's slaying in Myanmar
AFP - Tuesday, February 19
YANGON, Feb 19, 2008 (AFP) - A Japanese team including four police
officers met Tuesday with officials from Myanmar's Home Affairs
Ministry as they investigated the killing of a Japanese journalist in
Yangon, an official said.
Video journalist Kenji Nagai was killed while filming troops cracking
down on an anti-government rally led by Buddhist monks in September.
Television footage showed him apparently being shot at close range by
security forces, although nobody has ever been charged in relation to
his death.
While Japanese diplomats have headed to Yangon previously over the
case, this trip is believed to be the first time that police are
taking part.
"Four Japanese police arrived in Yangon yesterday and they discussed
this matter at the Home Affairs Ministry this morning," a Myanmar
security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
After the meeting, the team drove by the spot where Nagai was killed
in downtown Yangon, but they never left their vehicle, witnesses said.
Officials would not reveal what was said during the meeting, but the
Japanese team was expected to discuss an autopsy conducted in Japan
showing that the journalist was likely shot dead from a close range of
just within one metre (3.3 feet).
Nagai, 50, worked for APF News, a small agency based in Tokyo that
specialises in reports from danger zones where most Japanese
television networks dare not tread.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper described Nagai's death
as an accident but complained that he "dishonestly" entered the
country on a tourist visa.
Japan cancelled nearly five million dollars in aid to Myanmar in
protest against the crackdown and the killing of the reporter.
But Japan, in a rare break with its Western allies, has refused to end
aid completely to Myanmar, preferring the approach of most Asian
nations of trying to engage the military regime.
The United Nations has said at least 31 people were killed during the
peaceful anti-government protests.
*************************************************************
Myanmar's wild elephants helping cut down their forest habitat
by Mony Chris
Mon Feb 18, 10:26 PM ET
YANGON (AFP) - Elephants in Myanmar have long been invaluable
labourers in the country's timber industry, nimbly finding their way
through forests and dragging heavy fallen trees to rivers for
shipping.
But as Myanmar's ruling junta expands logging in the country's teak
forests, more wild elephants are being captured and trained for clear-
cutting operations that destroy the very habitats in which they roamed
freely, activists and industry insiders say.
"On account of the loss and fragmentation of their habitats, the size
of the wild elephant population has declined," said Uga, chairman of
local environmental group Biodiversity and Nature Conservation
Association.
"To obtain elephant power for logging, wild elephants are being
captured and recruited," said Uga, who uses only one name.
Employing elephants is normally more environmentally friendly than
using heavy machinery, which requires roads cut into forests which
cause more damage than elephants would.
About 4,500 elephants are believed to be working in the logging
industry, including 2,500 owned by the state-run Myanmar Timber
Enterprise (MTE), Uga said.
As logging operations have dramatically expanded, especially in remote
regions of northern Myanmar near the Chinese border, some companies
are turning to private entrepreneurs to capture and train elephants,
business owners said.
One owner of domesticated elephants in Taungoo, about 150 miles (240
kilometres) north of Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, said that
100 elephants had left in June to work on a timber operation in
Sagaing province, hundreds of miles to the north.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the elephants had been
loaded into trucks to work for a company making veneers and plywood
for export.
He had one elephant in the group, which he said was taken on a three-
year rental agreement to clear cut forests to make way for new towns
in so-called replacement areas, where villagers are being relocated to
make way for the Tamanthi hydropower project.
The dam on the Chindwin river, in a remote corner of northwestern
Myanmar, will provide electricity mainly for export to neighbouring
India. Ethnic minority groups in the region estimate that at least 35
villages will need to be relocated.
Officially, the MTE uses a selective felling system for its logging
and employs elephants to drag the logs to the nearest waterways for
transport.
Under that system, only the most mature trees are logged, leaving
younger ones to keep growing in a cycle meant to last 25-30 years.
But the government has openly started clear-cutting forests as it
embarks on the Tamanthi project and other dams around the country,
with neighbours China and Thailand financing much of the construction.
One retired MTE official told AFP that orders to follow selective
felling guidelines were often ignored.
"Deforestation would not be occurring if we used the selective-felling
system, adhering to the forestry law," he said on condition of
anonymity.
"But the advice of experts is ignored... by orders from the
government."
According to the most recent estimates, some 1.5 million cubic metres
(53 million cubic feet) of timber worth 350 million dollars was
exported from Myanmar to China in 2005, most of it illegal, according
to Britain-based forestry watchdog Global Witness.
That was a 12 percent gain over the year before, and roughly double
the amount exported in 2000, the group said.
Much of the logging takes place in remote areas of the country where
it's impossible for outside experts to assess the extent of the
environmental damage, but activists have long warned of the
devastating consequences.
"This is a particularly destructive approach to logging that causes
huge environmental damage," said Mike Davis of Global Witness.
For the elephants working in logging, the clear cutting means they are
assisting in the destruction of their own habitat, Uga said.
"Wild elephants are running out of pasture in the forests," he said.
"Elephant conservation is important. We should follow forestry law to
protect wild elephants as well as to protect the forest".
*************************************************************
UN envoy says Myanmar constitution move significant
By TINI TRAN,Associated Press
AP - Wednesday, February 20
BEIJING - The U.N. special envoy for Myanmar said Tuesday that
proposals by the rulers there calling for a May referendum on a
constitution written under military guidance and general elections in
2010 were significant steps forward.
Ibrahim Gambari, who was in Beijing for talks with Chinese officials,
also said China can help by sending signals to Myanmar's leaders that
they need to cooperate.
"This is a significant step as it marks the first time that we have an
established time frame for the implementation of its political
roadmap," he said.
Earlier this month, the Myanmar government announced it would hold a
May referendum on a constitution written under military guidance and
multiparty elections by 2010, the first specific dates for steps in an
earlier-announced "roadmap to democracy."
The plans have been widely criticized for failing to include any input
from Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National
League for Democracy, which complained Monday that the junta's recent
moves toward reform were not enough.
Suu Kyi's party won general elections in 1990 but was not allowed to
take power.
Gambari said he had not seen a draft of the constitution and that it
was too soon to say if the United Nations would be involved in the
referendum process.
However, he said Myanmar must create "an atmosphere conducive to
credible elections," adding that would include the release of
political prisoners and relaxation of restrictions on Suu Kyi, who
remains under house arrest.
Gambari said he is not discouraged by the slow pace of discussions but
that ultimately the U.N. wants "tangible results."
Gambari, who met earlier with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and other
top officials, said he had held constructive and frank talks with
China about the situation.
Praising Beijing for its role in mediating his access to Myanmar and
its government, Gambari said China can help by sending signals to
Myanmar's leaders that they need to cooperate.
China, along with other nations, can assist the U.N. mission by
"sending the right message to authorities in Myanmar to continue to
cooperate," he said. "This is not just an issue for the Chinese. This
is an issue for the international community," he said
The envoy said he expected to return to Myanmar "certainly well before
April" to resume talks with the ruling junta.
On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao repeated China's
promises to play a constructive role in the mediation but said that
dialogue, not international sanctions, would be key in finding a
resolution.
"Pressure and sanctions at this time will not help solve the issue,"
he said.
China is a key stop on Gambari's sweep through the region because
Beijing is an important trading partner and arms provider for the
generals who run the country.
He will also be heading to Indonesia, Singapore and Japan to urge
those countries to support U.N. efforts with Myanmar.
China objects to Western criticisms of Myanmar's military regime,
saying conditions in the country have improved dramatically since a
violent crackdown on peaceful protests in September.
However, China has been credited with convincing Myanmar's generals to
issue visas for Gambari to visit.
*************************************************************
Myanmar Says Constitution Draft Is Ready
AP - Wednesday, February 20
YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's ruling junta said the country's new draft
constitution, which will replace one scrapped in 1988, was completed
Tuesday.
State media said the 54-member Constitution Drafting Commission
finished the document after more than two months of work. The junta
announced earlier this month that the draft will be submitted to a
national referendum this May.
Government critics have called the constitutional process undemocratic
because it has been closely directed by the military with no input
from independent parties.
*************************************************************
Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 19 February 2008 2338 hrs
ASEAN ministers say Myanmar democracy roadmap must be credible
By S. Ramesh/ Margaret Perry,
SINGAPORE: Discussion among ASEAN foreign ministers during the first
of their two-day retreat in Singapore, focused on developments in
Myanmar.
The ASEAN ministers welcomed Myanmar's current roadmap that includes a
new constitution in May 2008 and general elections in 2010.
But the ministers added that there's a need to ensure that these
outcomes remain credible. This is according to Singapore Foreign
Minister George Yeo, who briefed the media on Tuesday night, after the
ASEAN ministers ended a three-hour working dinner.
Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, said: "We responded positively
but I must say there remained considerable scepticism about the
details of the implementation.
"A number of ministers talked about the importance of the integrity of
the process and it must have international credibility. It can't just
be an internal arrangement without independent verification.
"We made that point emphatically to Nyan Win while acknowledging the
positive aspects and being quite open about our concerns and our
scepticisms. The Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto 'Bert' Romulo, I
think, was the most sceptical among us.
"As you know, they have taken a position, but on the whole it was a
free-flowing exchange among the ministers on the basis of long
acquaintance with the Myanmar Foreign Minister."
Mr Yeo also revealed that three ASEAN members will be submitting their
documents to the ASEAN Secretary General on Wednesday as their
countries had completed ratifying the ASEAN Charter. The three are
Brunei, Malaysia and Laos.
The Philippines has indicated during the ASEAN Summit, which was held
in November 2007 and more recently at the World Economic Forum, that
it would ratify the Charter only if Myanmar's opposition leader Aung
San Syu Kyi is released.
Mr Yeo said: "Except for the Philippines, all the other countries
should not be a problem. Cambodia told us two weeks before (that) they
got theirs ratified and the others told us within a matter of months.
"As for the Philippines, the Foreign Secretary told us it requires the
approval of both the House and the Senate, so its a bit more
complicated. They have taken a certain position publicly, both at the
summit and Davos.
"But I suggested to the Philippines that without ratifying the
charter, we cannot hold countries to the standards expressed in the
charter. So let us have the charter ratified and then afterwards to
hold individual countries accountable to those standards they have
signed on."
Singapore currently chairs the ASEAN Standing Committee.
Talks at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Retreat will take place over the
next two days at the Sentosa Resort.
Besides the Myanmar issue, the foreign ministers will discuss the
progress of the implementation process of the economic blueprint. The
document aims to lead the grouping towards an ASEAN Economic Community
by 2015.
The 10 foreign ministers are also expected to exchange updates on how
their governments are ratifying the ASEAN Charter. ASEAN leaders hope
that the ratification process will be completed and the charter
enforced in time for the next leaders' summit in Bangkok.
*************************************************************
Myanmar private airline plane overruns runway, some injured
YANGON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- An aircraft of a Myanmar private airline
overran the runway when taking off on Tuesday in Putao, a border town
in northernmost Kachin state. Latest information from airline sources
said some people were injured.
With 57 passengers including four foreigners on board, the aircraft of
ATR-72 type encountered an engine failure when ascending on its
domestic flight from Putao to Mandalay at about 1: 30 p.m. (local
time), the sources in Air Bagan said.
The aircraft overran about 100 meters from the runway with its nose-
wheel broken, injuring two pilots and at least three passengers. the
sources said.
The four foreign passengers have been sent back to the hotels in
Putao, over 1,800 kilometers to the north of Yangon, according to the
sources.
Inaugurated in November 2004, Air Bagan, the first full private-
invested airline in Myanmar set up by the Htoo Company, stands the
third largest domestic private airline in the country after Air
Mandalay and Yangon Airways flying between Yangon and 17 domestic
destinations and using two Fokker F-100, two France-made ATR-72, three
ATR-42 aircraft and two airbus A 310 totaling nine.
The Air Bagan launched its first international flight service to
Bangkok on May 15 last year and the second's to Singapore on Sept. 7
the same year.
However, the airline's Singapore flight had to be suspended after its
last flight on Nov. 4 last year due to financial sanctions imposed on
the airline by the United States earlier on Oct. 19.
On Dec. 27 last year, the Air Bagan, stretched its wing to South
Korea's Incheon as its third foreign air route service on a charter
basis. The airline also disclosed its further plans to extend its
services to more destinations such as China's Kunming, Cambodia's Siam
Reap, India's Chennai and Bangladesh's Dhaka.
*************************************************************
United Press International
EU 'concerned' over democracy in Myanmar
Published: Feb. 19, 2008 at 10:46 AM
BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- The international relations arm of the
European Union said it was "deeply concerned" Myanmar will fail to
take appropriate steps toward democracy.
The General Affairs and External Relations Council of the European
Union said in a statement Tuesday that it "remains deeply concerned by
the situation in ... Myanmar and urges the authorities to take rapid
steps to transition to a democratically elected government."
The EU said that although Myanmarese authorities said they would draft
a new constitution this May and have multiparty elections in 2010, the
nation can't have full participation while it continues to hold
political activitists, such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi, in custody.
The EU also expressed its support for the U.N. mission helping
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, transition to a democracy and called
on the nation to readmit the special adviser for the United Nations.
The EU concluded the statement saying it was determined to help "the
people of ... Myanmar to achieve stability, prosperity and democracy."
Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in Rangoon following a
contentious general election in 1990.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Kachins Suspect Russian Company Drilling Uranium
By AYE LAE
Residents in Burma's northern Kachin State are unhappy with an
agreement between the Burmese's military government and a Russian
company to mine for gold and other minerals, according to Kachin
sources.
The state-run media reported Saturday that Russian company Victorious
Glory International Pte Ltd had signed an agreement with Burmese
officials to search for minerals along the Uru River between Phakant
in Kachin State and Homalin in Sagaing Division.
Although the report did not elaborate on the details of the agreement,
observers pointed out that the Russian drilling company already
started operations early last year. Awng Wa, leader of the Kachin
Development Networking Group (KDNG), told The Irrawaddy by phone on
Tuesday: "The junta says the Russian company is searching for gold and
other minerals. What are the other minerals? We suspect it is
uranium."
Russia supplies Burma with arms, and Rosatom, the Russian federal
atomic energy agency, signed a deal last May to build a nuclear
research center in Burma.
In the early 2000s, the Burmese regime confirmed publicly that uranium
deposits had been found in five areas: Magwe, Taungdwingyi,
Kyaukphygon, and Kyauksin and Paongpyin in Mogok Township. The
exploration also extended to southern Tenasserim Division. Residents
of Thabeikkyin Township, 96 km (60 miles) north of Mandalay, said they
believed there to be a uranium refinery at Thabeikkyin on the
Irrawaddy River.
According to KDNG, areas along the Uru River in Burma's northwestern
Sagaing Division and northern Kachin State are rich in natural
resources, including large quantities of gold. These resources,
however, are not benefiting the local residents, but principally the
military authorities and a handful of businessmen and companies, it
said.
"The Chinese are playing a central role in gold mining," a resident in
Myitkyina, capital of Kachin State, said. "Smalls scale miners,
desperate to scrape a living, reap at least some benefit from selling
their gold into the hands of Chinese middlemen."
The regime has been selling large mining concessions to selected
companies in Hukawng Valley in Kachin State since 2002. The regime's
Ministry of Mining collects large signing-on fees for the concessions,
as well as 35 to 50 percent tax on annual profits. Additional payments
are rendered to the military's top commander for the region and
various township and local authorities, as well as the Minister of
Mining himself.
Furthermore, a report on gold mining practices by the Chiang Mai-based
Pan Kachin Development Society pointed out the gold mines' impact on
public health. It noted that mercury and cyanide were getting into the
human food chain.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tay Za Takes Over Village for Its Jade
By SAW YAN NAING
Burmese tycoon Tay Za, a business crony of junta chief Snr-Gen Than
Shwe, has confiscated an entire village in upper Burma to make land
available for jade mining, according to a local resident.
More than 300 people have been relocated without compensation from the
confiscated village, Tayor Gone, near Phakant, Kachin State, the
source, Ma Grang, told The Irrawaddy.
Tay Za claimed the village belonged to him, Ma Grang said. He had also
ordered a church to be removed from the village by the end of February
because it stood in the way of his planned jade mine.
Tay Za's company, the Htoo Trading Co Ltd in Rangoon, was not
available for comment on the report.
Htoo Trading Co Ltd is a leading teak exporter and is also involved in
tourism, real estate and housing development. Tay Za also owns Burma's
o¬nly private airline, Air Bagan.
Business sources in Rangoon report that the young tycoon traveled
recently to Pusan, South Korea's largest port, to purchase a freight
ship and a tanker.
He is believed to have procured a loan of US $10 million from the
military government to buy the two vessels, reportedly as part of a
plan to create Burma's first privately operated international shipping
line.
Because of his close business and social ties to Than Shwe and other
military leaders, Tay Za is a prominent
*************************************************************
BBC News - Monday, 18 February 2008, 20:49 GMT
Burma: Sandwiched between giants
Burma lies between two emerging Asian powerhouses - China and India.
Almost six months after the suppression of pro-democracy protests, a
BBC correspondent reports from the country's main city, Rangoon.
"You can take my picture but please don't put it in any magazines,"
the old man said with alarm.
Then he paused and shook his head apologetically. "We live in fear in
this country," he said.
I'll call him Tin Ngwe. Printing his real name would probably land him
in jail; printing mine would get me on a journalist's blacklist.
I followed him as he shuffled around the Shwedagon temple complex in
the shadow of the huge golden stupa which forms the spiritual centre
of Rangoon.
Last September, when hundreds of Burmese monks took part in a three-
week protest against the government, Shwedagon became their focal
point.
I asked Tin Ngwe where all the monks were now, as I had only seen a
handful in what is one of Burma's most important religious sites.
He led me away from the crowds to the eastern gate, and pointed to the
road below, where the first demonstration by monks had begun.
"Thirty-one of them," he said, "all shot".
Many other monks and protesters are, according to human rights groups,
still being held in jail.
Last week the Burmese state-controlled media announced that a national
referendum on a new constitution would be held in May, and general
elections in 2010.
No-one I met had any faith in the promise.
A young man in his 30s told me: "We read that paper and we laugh. It's
already taken so long. I know my country and I know my government. It
won't happen."
It has been 18 years since the last polls. The government lost them to
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, so they ignored the
result.
In August 1988 the military government crushed a national uprising,
killing an estimated 3,000 people.
Ms Suu Kyi has spent most of her time since then either in jail or
under house arrest, where she is today.
Chinese influence
Many observers believe the junta has decided to make this new promise
of elections because of pressure from China.
Beijing's influence in Burma is considerable, if not yet decisive.
I recently asked a Rangoon-based diplomat what role she thought China
was playing in the country.
Speaking off the record, she answered "whatever best protects their
commercial interests".
The Chinese were not bothered by the fate of Aung San Suu Kyi or the
progress of reform, she said - they just want things stable so they
can keep doing business.
And old Tin Ngwe agreed. He told me that in the long run it did not
really matter what the government promised to do, because "the Chinese
will be running the country soon".
"They are buying up everything we have," he said. "We should be a rich
country, we have gems, jade, gold, everything but diamonds, but the
people are still poor.
"This government steals everything from us and sells it to the
Chinese. Go downtown," he said. "You'll see them."
Indian competition
But the commercial hub of Rangoon is not only dominated by Burma's
huge northern neighbour, China.
Burma is sandwiched between two emerging Asian giants.
Both are seeking the regional upper hand. Both are still wary of each
other, with a legacy of mistrust stretching back to a border war in
1962.
Off a corner of Maha Bandoola Garden street in downtown Rangoon, I
found some of the men benefiting from India's decision not to take a
stand against the junta and to actively oppose sanctions.
Sitting in a huddle around an Indian Paan-wallah, who was making
something like chewing tobacco but from betel nut, were four Muslim
businessmen from Mumbai.
"There are a lot of Indians here," I said to one in Hindi. "The
Indians are here, the Chinese are over there," he said with a smile.
"Where are the Burmese?" I asked him. "Up there," he said with a
dismissive wave.
"This place is going down man," he added, then lent back on his chair
and, smiling again, he said: "But there are good gems here."
Meanwhile, uptown, his foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, was
doing business with the military junta.
A few years ago Delhi did try to take a principled stand against one
of its rogue neighbours, by threatening action against the King of
Nepal in the dying days of his autocratic rule.
But the Chinese simply offered the king their support instead, so
India had to back down.
Delhi has learnt from that lesson. It is clearly not about to risk
losing Burma and the prospect of new gas, oil and infrastructure
projects.
The Indian press are already being briefed about Delhi's growing
influence, with claims that Mr Menon's chat with the Burmese generals
secured another visit to Burma by the UN secretary general's special
adviser Ibrahim Gambari.
Mr Menon is a busy man. A few weeks ago he was in Beijing lauding the
signing of a document between the Indians and Chinese that promised a
"shared vision" for the future.
The consequences of that seem to suggest a shift in perspective more
from the Indian side than from China's, which has never claimed to be
a champion of human rights.
Unfortunately for many Burmese, this "shared vision" suggests that the
world's largest democracy has decided to turn a blind eye to the
violent suppression of democracy in the country next door - at least,
that is, while the Burmese junta still have something to bargain with.
*************************************************************
Locals coerced into joining USDA
Feb 19, 2008 (DVB)-Residents of Hlaing Tharyar township in Rangoon
have complained that the government-backed Union Solidarity and
Development Association is forcing locals to join the organisation
against their will.
U Tin Yu, a resident of Hlaing Tharyar township ward 8, said the local
USDA group called ward residents together for a neighbourhood meeting
last week to announce that a concrete road was to be built in the
ward.
"Hlaing Tharyar ward 8's USDA official Thant Sin called us into a
meeting and said the association was going to build a concrete road in
our ward," Tin Yu said.
"We were all happy until they told us we had to join the USDA in
exchange for their efforts."
Tin Yu said people from other wards had also been forced to enrol in
the USDA at similar meetings in their neighbourhoods.
Rangoon residents have speculated that the authorities' forced
enrolment of people in the USDA could be in order to gain as many
supporting votes as possible in the upcoming national referendum.
*************************************************************
Officials conduct second raid on journal office
Feb 19, 2008 (DVB)-The offices of the weekly journal Myanmar Nation in
Thingangyun township, Rangoon division, were raided yesterday evening
for the second time in four days.
In the first raid on Friday, journal editor Ko Thet Zin and
administrator U Sein Win Maung were arrested after officials found a
human rights report by United Nations special rapporteur Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro and a factbook on the Panglong convention on the premises.
Ko Thet Zin's wife, Ma Khin Swe Myint, said that officials returned
yesterday to search the office a second time.
"An official from Thingangyun police station and a group of about four
or five government officials from other investigative departments
raided the journal office," Khin Swe Myint said.
"They seized hard disks from the computers which contained news
reports and photos to be used in the journals."
Khin Swe Myint was allowed to visit her husband in Thingangyun police
station, where he and Sein Win Maung are still being questioned.
Authorities have not officially shut down the journal, but they have
instructed the publisher to suspend further publications.
*************************************************************
.
- Prev by Date: Re: True Friendship between China and Myanmar.
- Next by Date: just a thought
- Previous by thread: respect? who's who?
- Next by thread: just a thought
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
