Burma Related News - Feb 11-12, 2012.
- From: BRN <mtinkyi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:16:20 -0800 (PST)
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BURMA RELATED NEWS - FEBRUARY 11-12, 2012
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Reuters - Rock star welcome for Suu Kyi on Myanmar campaign trail
Reuters - Myanmar refugees tell of violence despite peace calls
AFP - Myanmar president vows end to ethnic conflict
AFP - Myanmar MPs tackle first budget in decades
AFP - Myanmar's Suu Kyi hits campaign trail
AFP - US urges Myanmar to release detained monk
AFP - Myanmar frees monk held for questioning
Deutsche Welle - German minister begins landmark Myanmar tour
The Statesman - 'China getting wary of allies'
CP - Myanmar's Suu Kyi campaigns for parliament, visits constituency
she hopes to represent
Daily Telegraph - Aung San Suu Kyi campaigns for the first time in her
constituency
Bernama - Myanmar President Stresses Investment In Education Sector
Asian Correspondent - Discrediting Panglong initiative, no reform will
arise in Burma
WA Today - Doubts remain about regime's nuclear secrets
The Christian Science Monitor - Myanmar's former political prisoners
weigh next steps ahead of polls
Bangkok Post - Myanmar's rising drug trade
ArabNews - Reforms bring hope, but challenges remain in Myanmar
Monsters and Critics - Myanmar president warns of "jungle law of
superpowers"
Monsters and Critics - ASEAN chief expresses concerns about Myanmar
reforms
Asian Tribune - Burma draws a new media law, but based on the old
Asian Tribune - Burma:CSW Returns From Kachin State With Evidence Of
Continuing Grave Human Rights Violations
The Financial Times - Myanmar reformist era enters new phase
Focus Taiwan News Channel - Myanmar's democratic reforms attract
Taiwan, Vietnam investors
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Rock star welcome for Suu Kyi on Myanmar campaign trail
By Aung Hla Tun | Reuters – 57 mins ago
WARTHINKHA, Myanmar (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people lined the
streets to give a rapturous welcome on Saturday to Myanmar Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as she hit the campaign trail for the first
time in her bid to win a seat in the country's parliament.
Riding in a convoy of three dozen cars and flanked by hundreds of
motorcycles, Suu Kyi received rock star treatment from crowds of
cheering, flag-waving supporters chanting "long live mother Suu"
throughout her seven-hour crawl to the rustic constituency where she
will contest April by-elections.
The leader of Myanmar's pro-democracy struggle stood through a car
sunroof, waving and smiling as dilapidated, overloaded trucks shuttled
in the crowds, in an outpouring of excitement at a rare rally in a
country tightly controlled for 49 years by an army that brutally
suppressed activism.
"We need your strength, for the people," Suu Kyi shouted to the crowd,
much of which held aloft her picture alongside that of her late father
and independence hero, Aung San who was assassinated when his daughter
was two years old.
The decision to contest the by-election represents a giant leap of
faith for Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party
after two decades being jailed, harassed and sidelined by the former
junta, which made way to a nominally civilian government 11 months
ago.
The NLD boycotted the widely flawed 2010 election but last year
accepted an olive branch from president and former junta fourth-in-
command, Thein Sein, who reached out to Suu Kyi. She regards the
reform-minded ex-general as sincere and trustworthy.
The motorcade moved at a snail's pace on a 56-km (35-mile) venture
south of the commercial capital Yangon, weaving through bamboo-hut
villages on bumpy, dusty dirt-tracks as farmers and children jostled
to catch a glimpse of "The Lady," as she is affectionately known.
Some 5,000 supporters in Warthinkha, a village of just 1,000 people,
packed into a rice paddy to hear her rousing speech on a makeshift
stage, her voice drowned out by bursts of applause.
'ALL-OUT EFFORT'
"I call on the people to have confidence in us. The NLD has no magic
power, but we will get to our desires soon with an all-out concerted
effort, with the courage and ability to get over the struggle," Suu
Kyi told the crowd.
"There are so many struggles ahead, I recognize this not because I'm
disappointed but just to say we need strength and reinforcement to
overcome them.
"The journey we are on, with the people, is very rough but the
destination we are headed for is peaceful."
Her bid for a parliamentary role is largely symbolic, with only 48
seats up for grabs in the by-elections, meaning the NLD can only
secure a tiny stake in the national legislature.
The last time the party contested an election was in 1990, when its
landslide win was ignored by the junta. Suu Kyi did not run in the
poll because she was under house arrest.
It remains to be seen exactly what Suu Kyi could achieve in a
parliament stacked with military appointees and lawmakers allied with
a party widely believed to have been formed and funded by the ruling
generals before they stepped aside.
But the farmers who turned out in their droves believe Suu Kyi can be
the decisive factor in transforming the country.
"I've never seen such a huge crowd. We're very lucky she's decided to
stand in the election representing our village," said mother of four,
Naw Ohn Kyi, 59. "It's like we've won the biggest prize in the lottery
without even buying a ticket."
Another villager, Sa San Thein, 35, added: "We were thrilled to hear
Aunty Suu was coming. It's just like a mother who left on a long
journey, coming home unexpectedly."
The elections will be closely watched by the international community
as a litmus test of the government's sincerity towards reforms, which
have included the release of an estimated 650 political prisoners and
ceasefires with ethnic rebel armies.
Diplomats expect the polls will be free and fair, despite
irregularities in the 2010 election, because the participation of Suu
Kyi, the charismatic darling of the West, would be a powerful
endorsement of its fledgling democratic system.
A clean poll is also a pre-requisite for lifting of sanctions that are
currently under review, as Western nations seek to bring the vastly
underdeveloped but resource-rich country out from the cold after two
decades of isolation.
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Myanmar refugees tell of violence despite peace calls
By James Pomfret | Reuters – Fri, Feb 10, 2012
NONGDAO, China (Reuters) - In an obscure part of southwest China, a
refugee crisis from one of the world's longest running and least known
conflicts in Myanmar is slowly unfolding, largely ignored by the
outside world and denied by China.
Thousands of refugees bringing tales of rape and violence have flooded
across the border into China, fleeing fighting between Myanmar
government troops and ethnic minority Kachin rebels.
Conflicts between the Myanmar government and various minority rebel
groups erupted soon after independence from Britain in 1948.
The Myanmar government is keen to end the violence as it introduces
democratic reforms after five decades of iron-fisted military rule and
as Western governments call for peace as they prepare to lift
sanctions.
Concrete moves to end the conflicts is a condition for the full
lifting of the embargoes.
While pacts have ended the fighting in most parts of Myanmar, the
bloodshed has not stopped in Kachin state in the far north despite a
call from the central government for an end.
Kachin state, a broad spur of Himalayan foothills wedged between China
and India, has for generations produced some of the world's finest
jade, as well as opium and timber.
Now it is central to the energy plans of both Myanmar and China, home
to hydropower dams and twin pipelines that will transport oil and
natural gas to China's southwestern Yunnan province.
In the town of Nongdao in a far western nook of Yunnan, talk of
Myanmar's return to democracy and the release of political prisoners
ordered by President Thein Sein rings hollow to refugees such as Da
Shi Jar Raw.
"They used big rockets to hit the villages and they burned the
fields," the 32-year-old told Reuters, describing attacks by
government soldiers in the country also known as Burma.
"The Burmese soldiers are raping women and shooting children," she
said. "They killed a lot of mothers so we don't dare go back."
"TERRIBLE THINGS"
Labang Roi Tawng took her four young children and fled on a four-day
trek in December to the border and safety at a camp in China of more
than 500 people.
"The military were killing, shooting and raping people, doing terrible
things, so we were very afraid and ran," she said.
At least 10,000 refugees have entered China since fighting erupted
between Myanmar's military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)
after a 17-year-old ceasefire broke down last June. Some Chinese media
reports have put the number at 40,000.
"How long the fighting continues, we cannot say," said Lahpai Zaulat,
with the Kachin Relief and Development Committee at Longdao, another
area where refugees have flocked.
"More and more will come," he said of the flow of people fleeing,
adding new huts were being built every week.
At one camp, where a mass of huts nestled between an open rubbish heap
and farmland, organizers said refugees were arriving at a rate of
about 10 a day.
Most of the Kachin villagers have fled to several areas along the
fenceless border including Mai Jai Yang in Kachin state, and Nongdao,
Longchuan and Leiji on the Chinese side.
The flow of displaced appears to be under control for now, with
authorities grudgingly providing land for shelters.
Many refugees in two border camps visited by Reuters looked relatively
healthy and well fed despite often dirty and crowded conditions in
huts of plastic tarpaulin strung over bamboo.
But what baffles many Kachin is that President Thein Sein's order for
troops to end their offensives has fallen on deaf ears. The only
explanation the government has provided is problems with
communications equipment.
But few are convinced by that.
"The military has ignored government orders to stop fighting," Khon
Ja, a Kachin activist based in Myanmar's commercial capital of Yangon,
told Reuters.
"This should be the highest crime."
Channels for dialogue with the KIA are open and talks are going on,
but without any real progress.
"BORDER PEOPLE"
For its part, China, keen to secure Myanmar's energy supplies and wary
of an influx of displaced, officially denies the existence of the
refugees. They are an embarrassment to a government which enjoys close
ties with Myanmar and has stood by it in the face of Western
sanctions.
"Remember these people aren't refugees, they're just here temporarily
to escape the conflict," said a Chinese government official in the
border town of Ruili after police detained a Reuters news team for
nearly five hours.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, speaking at a
briefing on Friday, described the refugees as "border people" and said
there were "not as many of them as outside reports say."
"China has all along dealt with this issue in a humanitarian way, and
has provided daily necessities," he said.
China has been relatively tolerant in allowing the Kachin to stay,
many without identity papers, sometimes in border towns among Chinese
citizens who share the same ethnicity. But it is wary of allowing non-
government organizations (NGOs) to help.
"The NGOs can't come to help us because China doesn't have any refugee
laws," said refugee Joseph Dabang. "Really we have tremendous trouble
and we have no money."
Many Kachin are Christian and Christian organizations are helping to
run camps and supply rations.
In another camp, that spilt into a plantation, corrugated iron shacks
were crammed with bedding and scores of children gathered at a school
set up with plastic sheeting for walls.
Teacher Htu Raw darted between blackboards as she taught two classes
at the same time, getting children to recite English words like
"flower" and "cup."
"I'm very sorry for the children so it doesn't matter if I'm tired,"
said the round-faced teacher as a room full of wide-eyed children
watched her every move.
"Many of these children have lost parents. But these students are now
my children."
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Myanmar president vows end to ethnic conflict
AFP News – 8 hours ago
Myanmar's president pledged to seek "lasting peace" with armed rebels
and issued a plea for the nation's support, as ethnic unrest continues
to marr reforms.
Thein Sein, a former general who came to power last year when outright
military rule ended, has launched efforts to end decades of ethnic
conflict as part a raft of landmark reforms in recent months.
Myanmar's quasi-civilian regime has reached tentative peace deals with
several rebel groups including in eastern Karen and Shan states, but
fighting in Kachin which borders China in the north has created
uncertainty over the progress of reconciliation efforts.
"Participation of the entire national people is sorely needed to bring
internal armed conflicts to an end and build lasting peace, and in
nation-building endeavours," Thein Sein said in a message carried by
state media on Sunday.
The address for Union Day, which marks the signing of a historic
agreement with the country's disparate ethnic minority groups in 1947,
said the government was "determined to keep on promoting democracy
peacefully".
He said people would be "overjoyed" to see democratic elections and
"equal participation in state affairs", reiterating a vow to focus on
good governance and improve the rule of law.
The regime has won cautious applause -- and a slight lifting of
Western sanctions -- for reforms including the release of political
prisoners.
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is now campaigning to enter parliament
in April 1 by-elections, a development which will likely bestow
legitimacy on a parliament that came into being after controversial
November 2010 polls.
An end to ethnic conflicts is a key demand of the international
community, and the United States called for Myanmar to address
"serious human rights abuses" in Kachin earlier this month.
In December, Thein Sein issued an order for the military to cease
attacks against guerrillas from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA),
but the move failed to stop unrest.
One of Myanmar's most prominent rebel groups, the Karen National Union
(KNU), has warned its peace deal was fragile because continuing
fighting in other ethnic areas was eroding trust in the government.
Myanmar's junta often invoked the prospect of civil war, which has
wracked parts of the country since its independence in 1948, as an
excuse for its near half century grip on power.
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Myanmar MPs tackle first budget in decades
By Didier Lauras | AFP – 59 mins ago
Myanmar's fledgling parliament is slaving over its first budget, a
daunting task for the inexperienced body in a country where the army
has long been used to dipping into state
coffers at will.
It has been almost a year since Myanmar, after decades of military
rule, embarked on a political transition with a new nominally civilian
government.
For the novice lawmakers in the nation's twin-chamber parliament --
dominated by soldiers and former military personnel -- that means once
impenetrable dossiers are now open to fierce debate.
"We have a broad framework but it is very complex," said Aung Tun
Thet, an adviser to the United Nations in Yangon, referring to the
draft budget prepared by President Thein Sein's government in
December.
During the long era of successive juntas, the budget was prepared by
the government alone.
"There was no assessment, no discussion, no dialogue. Now for the
first time in many, many years, we have a chance to discuss the budget
and its priorities," Aung Tun Thet told AFP.
"It's a very refreshing step forward," he added. "It's a demonstration
of the checks and balances between the legislative and the executive."
Although the army-backed ruling party holds an overwhelming majority,
lawmakers have embraced their new-found power -- debating laws, voting
and shuttling bills between the two chambers.
Some of the spending plans will surely please the West. According to
the Ministry of Planning and Development, the plan is to double the
education budget and spend four times as much on health as in the last
fiscal year.
It would be a welcome change. Myanmar has a record of committing just
$7 per year per person to healthcare, a mere 1.8 percent of the total
budget, one of the lowest health spending rates in the world according
to a 2009 UN report.
But the government is also seeking to spend 15.33 percent of the
budget on the armed forces.
"We cannot agree on what they asked for," an opposition lower house
member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the military
spending request, accusing the government of comparing Myanmar with
neighbouring countries "that are developed whereas we are not".
"We cannot talk about it openly now as it's a sensitive matter to
discuss," he told AFP.
If the draft budget is approved, the army's slice would officially
rise 50 percent to $2.35 billion compared to the previous year.
But debates are made even more difficult because the earlier budgets
were never published, de facto considered as state secrets.
Aye Maung, an upper house representative and chairman of the Rakhine
Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), one of Myanmar's ethnic-based
political parties, said he was ready to approve the request for more
military spending.
"We can accept it. But we don't know whether this number is realistic
or not as we don't know the previous budget."
In 2009, defence intelligence organisation Jane's Sentinel estimated
the army budget to be around $1.5 billion.
"It is unlikely that even Myanmar's military government can accurately
calculate the full cost of the country's armed forces," it added in
its annual report.
Experts concur that the army helped itself to the country's funds for
nearly half a century, notably profiting from a wide portion of the
oil revenues.
Several of the highest-ranking officers belonging to the former junta,
which relinquished power last March, consequently had their assets
frozen under Western sanctions.
But cheerleaders of Myanmar's recent reform efforts promise the army
will not be given free reign in this year's budget.
Toe Naing Mann, son of former junta number-three turned lower house
speaker Shwe Mann, is one of them.
"The chief of the army does not want to participate in politics," he
said about General Min Aung Hlain, who is one year into his new job.
He said the military budget was quite high relative to Gross Domestic
Product, but still rather low in real terms.
"Now, we can proceed with a revolution of military affairs," he said.
"We have to reduce armed forces, from quantity to quality."
The money discussions are expected to last a few more weeks. The
result will be the first budget debated in parliament since the first
post-colonial military coup in 1962.
The discussion "provides a historic opportunity to redefine national
spending priorities and bring fiscal transparency," said Meral
Karasulu, who headed an International Monetary Fund mission to Myanmar
last month.
She welcomed the apparent willingness to boost health and education,
and the prediction of a "moderate" fiscal deficit of about 4.6 percent
of GDP, slightly down from last year.
"A prudent fiscal policy is essential to maintain macroeconomic
stability," she said.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi hits campaign trail
By Hla Hla Htay | AFP – 16 hrs ago
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was greeted by cheering
crowds Saturday as she hit the campaign trail in the constituency
where she is standing for parliament for the first time.
Thousands of excited supporters lined the roads to greet her convoy of
dozens of vehicles, waving flags of her National League for Democracy
(NLD) party and photos of Suu Kyi and her father, Myanmar independence
hero Aung San.
The democracy icon has already made two campaign trips outside the
city ahead of April's by-elections, but this is her first day taking
to the streets of the rural township of Kawhmu, near Yangon, where she
is contesting the vote.
Shouts of "We warmly welcome mother Suu!" and "Long live Daw (Aunt)
Aung San Suu Kyi!" rang out amid the cheers.
The NLD cannot threaten the army-backed party's ruling majority even
if it wins all 48 available seats, but the vote has important symbolic
value as the first time Suu Kyi has been able to directly participate
in a Myanmar election.
"I would like to ask for people to believe in us, as we respect and
cherish the people," she told the crowds gathered for her speech in
one of the constituency's villages.
"Without the support of the people, no organisation and nobody can
work for the benefit of the country. We can win anything if the people
are involved in it," she said.
A widely-expected win for Suu Kyi would lend strong legitimacy to the
country's parliament, which first convened early last year and is
dominated by former generals who kept her in
detention for much of the past two decades.
"I'm very glad I can see her," said 31-year-old housewife Nang Naing
Naing Oo after Suu Kyi visited her village. "I expect she will work
not just for one village but for the development and success of the
whole country."
The NLD won a landslide victory in an election in 1990, but the then-
ruling junta never allowed the party to take power. Suu Kyi was a
figurehead for the party's campaign despite being under house arrest
at the time.
She was released from her latest stint in detention a few days after a
much-criticised election in 2010, and the upcoming polls are being
held to fill places vacated by those who have since become government
and deputy ministers.
Ahead of the campaign day, Suu Kyi insisted her party -- which
boycotted the 2010 election -- was taking nothing for granted.
"We will work very hard to win all 48 seats. It's not a matter of
expectations, it's a matter of hard work," the Nobel Peace Prize
winner said.
Controversy surrounding the 2010 vote means the by-elections will be
heavily scrutinised.
But the new regime has impressed even sceptics with its reform
process, which has included signing ceasefire deals with ethnic
minority rebels as well as welcoming the NLD back into the political
mainstream.
Observers say the government needs Suu Kyi, an international idol, on
side in order to garner support from Western powers and get the strict
economic sanctions they impose lifted.
"No one will make a single move before she gives the green light,"
said a Western diplomat focused on Myanmar, requesting anonymity.
The release of hundreds of political prisoners, a key demand of Suu
Kyi and the West, has been particularly welcomed and led the United
States to begin restoring full diplomatic relations.
On Monday, Washington also announced a waiver to allow it to support
assessments in the country by international financial institutions
including the World Bank.
Despite Myanmar's progress, the brief detention of a leading dissident
monk on Friday sparked concern among observers, coming less than a
month after his release from a jail term imposed for his role in a
2007 anti-junta uprising.
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US urges Myanmar to release detained monk
AFP – Fri, Feb 10, 2012
Buddhist monks walk in Amarapura, Myanmar. The United States urged the
authorities …
The United States on Friday urged the authorities in Myanmar to
release a prominent Buddhist monk who was one of the leaders of a 2007
anti-government uprising.
"We are deeply concerned that the Burmese (Myanmar) authorities
removed U Gambira from a monastery" in the capital Yangon early on
Friday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
"We urge the government of Burma to release him immediately and
unconditionally and to provide clarification on the purpose of his
detention," Nuland added
Given the "government's stated commitment to reform and
democratization, we call on Burmese authorities to protect the
fundamental freedoms of all its citizens, including all of
those recently released from detention," she said.
The government's release of about 500 political prisoners since
October has been hailed by Western countries, which have long demanded
the freeing of such detainees before they would consider lifting
sanctions.
A quasi-civilian regime, which came to power in March last year after
almost half a century of outright military rule, has impressed
observers with its apparent desire to reform and open up to the
outside world.
Gambira was one of hundreds of political prisoners released in
January, cutting short a 68-year jail term imposed for his key role in
the 2007 "Saffron Revolution," which was brutally crushed by the
former junta.
Since he was freed, Gambira has breached regulations by breaking into
monasteries closed by the government after the mass monk-led
demonstrations, a government official told AFP Friday on condition of
anonymity.
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Myanmar frees monk held for questioning
AFP – 13 hrs ago
Myanmar officials have freed a leading dissident Buddhist monk after a
brief detention, his monastery said Saturday, following a call from
the United States for his immediate release.
Gambira was taken away by authorities early on Friday and released
that night, less than a month after he was freed from a jail term for
his leading role in mass anti-government protests in 2007.
He was one of hundreds of political prisoners released in January,
cutting short a 68-year jail term imposed for his key role in the 2007
"Saffron Revolution", which was brutally crushed by the former junta.
Since he was freed, Gambira has breached regulations by breaking into
monasteries closed by the government after the mass monk-led
demonstrations, a government official told AFP Friday on condition of
anonymity.
After questioning he was taken to senior monks who reprimanded him for
his behaviour, according to the abbot at Maggin monastery in Yangon,
where Gambira is staying.
"He was released by authorities last night after the senior monks
spoke to him," abbot Einda Ka told AFP.
After he was detained the United States said Myanmar's authorities,
who have recently impressed the West with reformist moves, should
release Gambira immediately.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that given the
"government's stated commitment to reform and democratisation, we call
on Burmese authorities to protect the fundamental freedoms of all its
citizens, including all of those recently released from detention".
Myanmar's release of about 500 political prisoners since October has
been hailed by Western countries, which have long demanded the freeing
of such detainees before they would consider lifting sanctions.
A quasi-civilian regime, which came to power in March last year after
almost half a century of outright military rule, has surprised critics
with its apparent desire to reform and open up to the outside world.
A key sign of change has been the acceptance of democracy icon Aung
San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party back
into the political mainstream after more than two decades of
marginalisation.
The opposition leader, who was released from house arrest soon after a
2010 election and has since been allowed to launch a bid to enter
parliament, is running for office in April 1 by-elections.
On Saturday she begins campaigning in the rural constituency near
Yangon where she is standing for a seat -- the first time she has been
able to directly participate in an election -- and thousands of
supporters are expected on the streets.
Observers and the international community are set to closely watch the
upcoming polls after widespread criticism and accusations of cheating
in 2010, and have called on the government to ensure they are free and
fair.
The 2007 protests that landed Gambira in jail began as small rallies
against the rising cost of living but escalated into huge anti-
government demonstrations led by crowds of monks.
They posed the biggest challenge to military rule in nearly two
decades, leading to a bloody crackdown by the authorities. At least 31
people were killed by security forces while hundreds were beaten and
detained.
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Deutsche Welle - German minister begins landmark Myanmar tour
Date 12.02.2012
Germany's development minister has said Myanmar can expect more aid
from Berlin as the Southeast Asian country continues to reengage with
the international community and usher in democratic reforms.
Germany is set to deepen its development presence in Myanmar and boost
aid to the Southeast Asian nation, according to Development Minister
Dirk Niebel, who began a three-day tour of the country and neighboring
Laos on Sunday.
The visit is the first by a German cabinet member since the relative
opening of the secluded, formerly military-ruled country of around 60
million people.
Niebel said Myanmar could expect a continued easing of international
sanctions if it maintained its current political trajectory.
"If these good impressions are confirmed during my trip, we can begin
to expand Germany's development engagement step by step," Niebel said.
European Union sanctions, in force since the early 1990s, prohibit
Germany from engaging directly in development work with the Burmese
government.
The nominally civilian administration of President Thein Sein has
instigated promising democratic reforms since coming to power in 2010,
including releasing political prisoners and opening dialogue with the
Burmese opposition and persecuted democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Down to business
Traveling with a business and economic delegation, Niebel kicked off
his trip with a tour of projects run by aid and development NGOs
Malteser International and Welthungerhilfe.
Niebel pledged Germany's continued support for the work done by the
organizations in Myanmar. The Development Ministry offers funding to
NGO projects in Myanmar covering health, education, food security and
rural development. It has a budget of 19 million euros ($25 million)
for 2010-13.
Niebel is also scheduled to meet with Suu Kyi during his visit - an
appointment that would have been unthinkable under the former military
junta.
After spending much of the last 20 years under house arrest, Suu Kyi
was released from detention in November 2010. She registered earlier
this month to run in April by-elections for the National League for
Democracy party.
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The Statesman - 'China getting wary of allies'
12 February 2012
Press Trust of India
BEIJING, 12 FEB: As USA made forays into Asia-Pacific region
consolidating ties with countries like India and Japan, China is
getting wary of its allies ~ North Korea, Pakistan and Myanmar ~ which
are also swayed by Western influence, an article in state-run media
said.
“At present, China's relations with Japan, India and Asean countries
are slightly tense. At the same time, former close allies like the
North Korea, Myanmar and Pakistan are opening up to the West,” an
article in the official china.org. cn said today.
Notably China describes all the three countries as former close
allies. “North Korea is the country which China assists the most.
However, it no longer treats China as a close friend. Instead, it
wants to build direct relations with the USA,” the article in the
official portal said.
Compared with China, no other big country spends so much on its allies
but gains so little reward or respect, it said. “As Kim Jong-Un
becomes the country's new leader, how much the DPRK will respect China
is yet to be seen,” it said.
The big surprise for Beijing, appears to be Myanmar where China has
invested billions of dollars to create infrastructure for its oil
pipelines under the previous military regime, the article said. “A
former staunch ally to China, Myanmar has also changed its attitude
towards US last year,” it said pointing out the rapid pace at which
Naypyidaw opened up to USA after Secretary of State Mrs Hillary
Clinton's visit.
“It's a natural move for Myanmar and the USA to approach each other..
Before that, Myanmar Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released
in November last year....Later, the Myanmar government stopped China
from investing in its Myitsone hydropower project,” it said.
“If this trend continues, Myanmar will finally sink into the West's
arms and become an important pawn for the US' deployment to China's
borders. China has been pursuing opportunities to build railways, gas
and oil pipes in Myanmar”.
“If Myanmar cosies up to the USA, it will be a setback for China's
energy strategy. Energy development in Myanmar remains the best
solution for China to avoid conflict with the USA in Malacca,” it
said. There were apprehensions about all weather friend Pakistan too.
There's no doubt that Pakistan is China's best friend. For this
reason, Pakistan has also become a focal point for the US defence
strategy, the article said.
“Last December, Nato aircraft and helicopter gunships attacked two
Pakistani border posts. Some believe the attack served as warning to
China's neighbour countries to remind them who they should be friends
with,” it said.
Nowadays, Asian countries have neither respect for Chinese culture nor
recognition of Chinese values. Previously, they have engaged China
mainly to look for trade opportunities.
“Once China's economic development slows, its attraction will
disappear unless China is able to successfully win hearts through the
purveyance of soft power,” it said.
“The USA is never going to leave Asia. China and the USA must learn to
live with each other at peace in the region,” it said. Meanwhile,
China needs to find more ways to attract neighbouring countries rather
than simply trying to persuade its neighbours to weaken their ties to
the USA, the article said.
********************************************************
Myanmar's Suu Kyi campaigns for parliament, visits constituency she
hopes to represent
By Aye Aye Win, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – 10 hours
ago
KAWHMU, Myanmar - Thousands of cheering supporters swarmed opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday as the democracy icon took her
historic campaign for a parliament seat to the southern constituency
she hopes to represent for the first time.
Supporters waving her political party's flag came out in force to
catch a glimpse of the 66-year-old Nobel Peace laureate as her convoy
crawled from the main city Yangon to Kawhmu, a poor, rural district to
the south.
"The road ahead will be tough," Suu Kyi told a crowd of several
thousand people gathered in a dusty field in the village of Wah Thin
Kha, where she will cast a ballot in the April 1 byelection. "But our
goal is to achieve peace, stability and development."
"I acknowledge there are difficulties," Suu Kyi said. "But let others
know we need the people's support. Let us overcome the hurdles
together."
The April vote is being held to fill 48 parliamentary seats vacated by
lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet or other posts last year.
The ballot is seen as a test of the new
government's commitment to democratic change after nearly half a
century of iron-fisted army rule.
President Thein Sein's military-backed administration has embarked on
a series of reforms that have surprised even some of the country's
harshest critics. It has released hundreds of political prisoners,
signed cease-fire deals with ethnic rebels, and increased media
freedoms — despite coming to power last year after 2010 elections that
Suu Kyi's party boycotted and Western nations said were neither free
nor fair.
Even if Suu Kyi's party wins all 48 seats, however, it will have
minimal power. The 440-seat lower house is overwhelmingly dominated by
ruling party allies of the former junta and 25 per cent of lawmakers
are, by law, military appointees.
On Saturday, Suu Kyi and her entourage made the 16-mile (25-kilometre)
journey to Kawhmu down a crumbling road. It took three hours to get
there, and a couple more to reach nearby Wah Thin Kha. The lengthy
trip underscored how undeveloped Myanmar is.
Along the way, banners proclaimed "We're All in This Together!" while
music blared from loudspeakers with homespun lyrics that screamed:
Myanmar "will prosper only after Daw Suu wins the race."
"Daw" is an honorific of respect used for older women.
At a youth meeting Thursday, Suu Kyi told party members that "even one
seat is important."
A victory would be historic for Suu Kyi, who spent most of the last
two decades under house arrest. She would have a voice in government
for the first time after decades as the country's opposition leader.
In 1990, while she was still under house arrest, her party won a
sweeping election victory but the then-ruling military junta refused
to honour the results.
The government hopes the reforms it has enacted since last year's
election — including the freeing of hundreds of political prisoners —
will prompt the lifting of economic sanctions imposed under the
junta's rule. Western governments and the United Nations have said
they will review the sanctions only after gauging whether the April
polls are carried out freely and fairly.
********************************************************
Daily Telegraph - Aung San Suu Kyi campaigns for the first time in her
constituency
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was greeted by cheering
crowds on Saturday as she hit the campaign trail in the constituency
where she is standing for parliament for the first time.
2:33PM GMT 11 Feb 2012
Thousands of excited supporters lined the roads to greet her convoy,
waving flags of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party and
photos of Suu Kyi and her father, Burma's independence hero Aung San.
The democracy icon has already made two campaign trips outside the
city ahead of April's by-elections, but this is her first day taking
to the streets of the rural township of Kawhmu, where she is
contesting the vote.
Shouts of "We warmly welcome mother Suu!" and "Long live Daw (Aunt)
Aung San Suu Kyi!" rang out amid the cheers.
The NLD cannot threaten the army-backed party's ruling majority, even
if it wins all 48 available seats, but the vote has important symbolic
value as the first time Suu Kyi has been able to directly participate
in an election.
"I hope they will be free and fair. There have been a few hitches but
I hope that these will be sorted out," she told AFP on Friday.
A widely-expected win for Suu Kyi would lend strong legitimacy to the
country's parliament, which first convened early last year and is
dominated by former generals who kept her in detention for much of the
past two decades.
The NLD won a landslide victory in an election in 1990, but the then-
ruling junta never allowed the party to take power.
Suu Kyi was a figurehead for the party's campaign despite being under
house arrest at the time.
She was released from her latest stint in detention a few days after a
much-criticised election in 2010, and the forthcoming polls are being
held to fill places vacated by those who have since become government
and deputy ministers.
Ahead of the campaign day, Suu Kyi insisted her party – which
boycotted the 2010 election – was taking nothing for granted.
"We will work very hard to win all 48 seats. It's not a matter of
expectations, it's a matter of hard work," the Nobel Peace Prize
winner said.
Controversy surrounding the 2010 vote means the by-elections will be
heavily scrutinised.
But the new regime has impressed even sceptics with its reform
process, which has included signing ceasefire deals with ethnic
minority rebels and welcoming the NLD back into the political
mainstream.
Observers say the government needs Suu Kyi, an international idol, on
side in order to garner support from Western powers and get the strict
economic sanctions they impose lifted.
"No one will make a single move before she gives the green light,"
said a Western diplomat.
The release of hundreds of political prisoners, a key demand of Suu
Kyi and the West, has been particularly welcomed and led the United
States to begin restoring full diplomatic relations.
On Monday, Washington also announced a waiver to allow it to support
assessments in the country by international financial institutions
including the World Bank.
********************************************************
February 12, 2012 13:43 PM
Myanmar President Stresses Investment In Education Sector
YANGON, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- Myanmar President U Thein Sein has
stressed investment in education sector, saying that it is the best
guarantee and most valuable for the nation's future, Xinhua news
agency reported official media as saying Sunday.
Thein Sein made the remarks during his inspection trip to the
country's northwestern Sagaing region on Saturday, said the New Light
of Myanmar.
"Only when all youths become intellectuals and intelligentsia in the
future, will the nation enjoy fruits of development," he told Sagaing
dwellers.
He disclosed plan to open an arts and science university in Sagaing
and upgrade the region's cooperative college and technological college
to university level.
Noting that Myanmar saw its elected government and parliament on
transition to democracy, the president said "In Myanmar, three pillars
for the democracy of the parliament, the government and the judiciary
body had been established and the country is beginning to take shape
as a discipline-flourishing democratic nation."
The government was also making all-out efforts for peace and stability
to reduce pressure from outside and to make peace with ethnic armed
group, he said.
As to the investment, he outlined three steps for considering making
investment. The first is to establish business which can offer job
opportunities as much as possible, the second is to establish
factories which produce value-added materials for export instead of
raw materials and the third is to establish business based on high
technology.
Regarding foreign investment, he said the government had taken the
interest of the people, the integrity and sovereignty of the country
into consideration.
********************************************************
Asian Correspondent - Discrediting Panglong initiative, no reform will
arise in Burma
By Zin Linn Feb 12, 2012 5:59PM UTC
Today is the 65th anniversary of the Union Day of Burma. It marks the
signing ceremony of the ‘Historic Panglong Agreement’ between General
Aung San and leaders of the Chin, Kachin and Shan ethnic groups
guaranteeing a genuine federal union of Burma. However, Burma’s
successive decision makers neglect the political contract between
Burmese and the ethnic leaders of independence.
Even in the emergence of President Thein Sein government, the contract
has been put aside since the cabinet has been dominated by former
generals. Besides, Burma’s new 2008 Constitution distributes many
problems for political parties, ethnic cease-fire groups and exiled
dissident factions seeking some common initiative between ethnic
groups and the current governments.
To address the interconnected ethnic problems, the current government
must review the mistakes of past rulings and the political aspirations
of the ethnic communities. The root cause of the nation’s ethnic
political mayhem is the consecutive governments’ antagonism to a
democratic federal union. The late dictator Ne Win, who seized power
in a military coup in 1962, opposed sharing equal authority in a
series of heated debates in the then legislative body.
Ne Win supported a unitary state over a genuine federal union. The
Military Council headed by Ne Win declared that the military coup had
taken place because of the “federation topic,” which he said could
lead to the disintegration of the nation. Equality of ethnic
minorities with the Burmese majority was to him out of the question.
When Ne Win seized power, he demolished the 1948 Constitution. At the
same time, the Pang Long Agreement, which promised autonomy or self-
determination of the ethnic groups, was broken and abrogated.
In actual fact, it is a fair demand for self-sufficiency among the
respective ethnic minorities. No government should use guns to govern
ethnic minorities. If one looks back to 1960-61, many leaders from
ethnic states criticized the weakness of the constitution as well as
the government’s failure to take in the political autonomy of the
ethnic minorities.
They pointed the finger at the central government of not allowing the
representatives of ethnic states to manage their own affairs in areas
of the economy, judiciary, education, and customs and so on. The
central government ruled the ethnic areas as vassal states.
Sen-Gen Than Shwe has followed the tradition of his predecessor Ne Win
and Saw Maung, who both defended the single unitary state. “All the
armed forces in the union shall be under the command of the Defense
Services,” says section 337 of the 2008 constitution.” It means ethnic
armed troops are under state control.
Under the 2008 constitution, the junta-sponsored Nov. 7 elections
there are only 330 civilian seats in the 440-member House of
Representatives whereas the remaining 110 seats are taken by military
officials appointed by the commander-in-chief. In the 224-seat House
of Nationalities, 168 Members of Parliament are elected and 56
representatives are appointed by the chief of the armed forces.
As published in the state-owned newspapers, the list of military
personnel to serve as military representatives in the 7 State and 7
Region parliaments totaling 222.
Moreover, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party
(USDP) won a landslide in the polls which declared seizing 882 out of
1154 seats in parliaments. Remarkably, 77 percent of the parliamentary
seats have been seized by the military-backed USDP in the 2010 polls
which were distinguished for vote-rigging show.
Hence, several ethnic leaders asserted that they don’t have faith in
the planned 2010 election where they are likely to have limited
opportunities which is not likely to create a genuinely peaceful
federal union as the Burmese armed-forces take 25 percent of all seats
and also seize additional 77 percent through junta-backed parties in
the latest parliaments as set by the 2008 Constitution.
In such a parliament, dominated by the military and former military,
ethnic representatives have little or no chance to press the self-
sufficiency and equal status issues in parliament. Authentic ethnic
representatives, who are willing to push ethnic issues forward, have
no opportunity to occupy enough seats in the military faction
monopolized-parliament to form an effective coalition.
Without addressing and honoring the ethnic people’s demand for self-
determination, the latest parliament-based government seems unable to
stop political and civil strife throughout ethnic areas. In reality,
ethnic people’s demand of equal rights is not a new one but already
mentioned in the 1947-Panglong agreement.
Burma’s sixty-four year-old Historic Panglong Agreement has been
ignored by the consecutive Burmese regimes. The said agreement has
been disregarded by the military leaders as they did not support the
‘Federalism’since 1962. The Panglong Agreement was signed on Feb. 12,
1947, between General Aung San and leaders of the Chin, Kachin and
Shan ethnic groups guaranteeing to establish a genuine federal union
of Burma.
National reconciliation and ethnic self-determination are two sides of
the same coin, and they must be addressed in the new parliament and in
respective regional and state parliaments. If the current government
failed to deal with the Panglong initiative or equal rights of ethnic
minorities, its so-called political reforms will not be a meaningful
process.
********************************************************
WA Today - Doubts remain about regime's nuclear secrets
February 13, 2012
RANGOON: Passengers coming and going at Burma's main international
airport have had an intriguing sight in recent weeks: MiG-29 fighters
streaking in tight formation at low level the length of the runway,
before zooming up with the rumble of their engines arriving seconds
later.
George Soros and the Herald are two visitors to have had this
diversion. Whether it's some kind of show of force, or practice for a
ceremonial fly-past, the modern Russian-made jets were a reminder of a
deep concern about foreign intervention that gripped Burma's former
military regime in the past decade.
With talk of "regime change" swirling in Washington, the then leader
Senior General Than Shwe set out to make his country invasion proof.
At unknown but vast expense, the capital was moved to a newly built
city, Naypyidaw, well inland and out of immediate reach of the US
navy. The air force, previously a mostly transport fleet helping in
internal wars, was equipped with the potent Russian interception and
strike aircraft, the MiG-29.
To alarm worldwide, the regime ordered a small nuclear reactor from
Russia, sent several hundred technicians to Russian centres for
training in nuclear science, and deepened its contacts with another
pariah state, North Korea, raising fears of a secret, parallel program
to make nuclear bombs.
As first reported in the Herald in July 2009, two defectors to
Thailand - one an army officer who had been sent to Moscow for nuclear
training, the other with the trading firm Htoo Trading - told of a
secret complex being dug into a mountain at Naung Laing, in Burma's
north.
Under US pressure a North Korean cargo ship heading for Rangoon was
turned back. Japanese police foiled a Burmese attempt to buy a
specialist device that could be used in ballistic missile trials, and
the US said Washington was worried about the transfer of "nuclear
technology and other dangerous weapons" from North Korea to Burma.
With a new ostensibly civilian government in Burma, led by former army
general Thein Sein chosen in tightly controlled elections, Western
governments including Australia's are urging it to clear up remaining
doubts about unsafeguarded nuclear activity and the connection with
North Korea.
"We doubt that there is a covert nuclear program with the North
Koreans," one foreign diplomat told the Herald. "Probably the activity
is all about hardening and deepening. But there is the question of
ballistic missiles, and why, for example, a ship said to be bringing
coal from North Korea has to be unloaded in the middle of the night."
Burma's military might not be aware how closely it was monitored by US
agencies, said the diplomat, under the Proliferation Security
Initiative, a multi-nation network set up to watch for exports of mass
destruction and ballistic missile technology after North Korea quit
the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 2003 and went overtly nuclear.
Ko Ko Hlaing, who is the president's chief political adviser, served
as a research officer on the army chief's staff until his retirement
from military service in 2004. He derides the idea of Burma going
nuclear.
"It's actually like a James Bond 007 story," he said. "Why would we
need a nuclear program without any enemy within our defence perimeter?
Neither China nor India is our rival. We have no contingency to make
military action against them, and also Thailand now has very friendly
relations."
The Herald reminded him about the early Bush administration's free
talk about regime change, and the outside perception that the move to
Naypyidaw had been about "strategic depth" in defence.
"Actually it's now become history, the time of General Than Shwe,"
Hlaing said. "It's now the era of President Thein Sein, and the
national interest and threat perceptions are not the same … I
personally cannot see any threats in our neighbouring countries or
from the American naval fleet. So why would we keep, or seek such a
very costly and very notorious and very bad image, [option of] nuclear
weapons. It is useless. Anyway we have no money to do it, and no enemy
to fire on. And also we have no capacity to keep, so it's out of the
question."
Yes, but was it ever considered? "Even in the previous system we
needed some conventional arms and ammunition, to fight the local
insurgents," Hlaing said. "We had an arms embargo from the Western
countries, and from Japan and South Korea also. So we have to find
wherever we can buy.
"We tried to buy defence technologies from South Korea, but a South
Korean company was prosecuted for having relations with the Myanmar
military. So you don't want Myanmar to have contact with North Korea,
but when we contacted South Korea, you sanction the South Korean
company. What's the logic?"
This is the final in Hamish McDonald's series of reports from Burma,
where he attended a seminar with Burmese and regional officials,
businessmen and analysts as guest of Melbourne University's Asialink
institute.
********************************************************
The Christian Science Monitor - Myanmar's former political prisoners
weigh next steps ahead of polls
As Myanmar prepares for April 1 parliamentary elections, many former
political prisoners are deciding how to continue their activism.
By Simon Roughneen, Correspondent / February 11, 2012
Yangon, Myanmar
“I felt nothing, really, when I was told I was to be released," says
Mya Aye, one of Myanmar's best-known political prisoners, who was
among some 300 detainees freed on Jan. 13 in a surprise release.
The amnesty came after an October release of more than 200 political
prisoners by what seems to be a reform-inclined Myanmar government.
The releases are being taken as a signal that the government is on a
gradual transition to democracy after five decades of military rule.
But Mr. Mya Aye, as with most of his generation of activists who are
now free, isn’t too impressed. As Myanmar (Burma) prepares for April 1
elections in the military-dominated parliament, activists are mulling
over what to do. “Our arrest was because of politics and so was our
release,” he says.
Sitting across the room in Mya Aye's upstairs apartment is Pyone Cho,
an old friend. Both men took part in student demonstrations against
military rule in 1988 – an uprising that was crushed by the Army,
which gunned down an estimated 3,000 civilians.
The repeated arrests and releases
The camaraderie between the two 40-somethings is visible as they crack
jokes that touch back to that first arrest almost a quarter-century
ago. Taking up the story as Mya Aye ambles to his kitchen where his
wife is cooking brunch, Pyone Cho says, “you know, I got married in
2007, but only four months later I was arrested.”
Like Mya Aye and many other dissidents of his generation, the “88
Generation,” named for the year of their mass protest, were arrested
only to be freed and re-arrested numerous times in the intervening
years. In the middle of one of his releases he married his wife, but
was jailed from August 2007 until just one month ago.
“I hardly got to see my wife, oh how much I am missing her,” he
says.
As he was jailed 500 miles away from Yangon, in Kawthaung prison in
Myanmar's far south, his wife could not always make the monthly visit
allowed by the authorities.
Political prisoners believe that they were sent to remote jails to
increase the sense of isolation and loneliness during jail-time. Many
political prisoners say they were tortured when imprisoned in the late
1980s and early 1990s. For the most part during recent stints they
were not physically harmed.
Tthe conditions were far from trauma free, however. “Last year,
everyone knew that my mother died,” says Min Zeya, as he stirs his
coffee at one of downtown Yangon's few Western-style cafes.
Outside, 20- and 30-year-old cars and buses sputter and backfire
through Yangon's streets, under the shade of fading old colonial-style
facades blackened by smoke and looking as if they haven't been painted
since Min Zeya first saw the inside of a Myanmar jail.
His mother died in May, but when his wife telephoned a message to the
prison authorities, they did not pass on the news. “It was on BBC,
VOA, on the Burmese exile media,” he says, “but I only knew a month
later when the family of another prisoner passed the news to the other
prisoner, who then told me,” he says.
He said that he and others are not dwelling on the past, however, and
with most of the famed 88 Generation free again, many are mulling what
to do next. “Some will work with NGOs, some will work with the media,
some will go to politics,” says Min Zeya.
Sandar Min, in her early 40s, is one of the youngest of that 88
Generation group of protesters.
She was asked by Aung San Suu Kyi to run as a candidate for the
National League for Democracy (NLD), the opposition party led by Ms.
Aung San Suu Kyi, in the upcoming election.
“I am 100 percent confident I can win” a seat, she says, despite being
asked to run in Naypyidaw, the country's purpose-built administrative
capital, where on the surface it might be expected that the Army-
backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) would win and
supplement an almost 80 percent hold on the legislature.
Some of Myanmar's recently freed political prisoners are much younger
than the 88 Generation. Phyo Phyo Aung was born in 1988, right in the
middle of those heady but ultimately blood-drenched days. The day
after Ms. Phyo Phyo Aung was born, Aung San Suu Kyi made her first
major political speech in the country then known as Burma, to an
estimated half-million people in front of Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda,
the country's main Buddhist shrine.
Phyo Phyo Aung was arrested in 2008 en route back to Yangon from the
disaster-stricken Irrawaddy delta, where at least 140,000 people had
died during a devastating May 2008 cyclone.
“We went to help bury bodies of the dead, and to bring aid to the
survivors,” she recalls. Then just 20, she was given a four-year jail
term for charges that included communicating with foreign journalists
and 88 Generation leaders.
At the time, the Myanmar government drew international condemnation
for stalling relief offers from outside, and for not doing enough to
help the estimated 3 million people left homeless after Cyclone
Nargis.
Phyo Phyo Aung is back in political work and is now heading up a
student organization aiming to raise political awareness in Myanmar.
She says she hopes that the reforms undertaken by the government will
continue, but cautions that “there are many laws still in place that
mean we could be arrested again for the same reasons as before.”
Sandar Min believes the reform process could be a new start for
Myanmar, breaking a 50-year cycle of Army-backed repression and
arbitrary arrest. But, she says it’s important to remember that there
are still at least 270 political prisoners in Myanmar's jails,
according to NLD party figures, and that in itself shows that
Myanmar's reforms have a long way to go.
“I will work to get them freed, if I can get elected,” she says.
********************************************************
Bangkok Post - Myanmar's rising drug trade
Critics say that the ceasefire agreements signed with ethnic armies
are driven by a desire to capitalise on the country's booming
narcotics business not a desire for change and that the army and
politicians are padding their coffers with the proceeds
Published: 12/02/2012 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Spectrum
Professor Des Ball pushes plates of what is left of a roast duck and
barbeque prawn dinner to the side as he spreads a large map across the
dinner table and stabs his finger at a point where northern Thailand
meets Myanmar.
''We're talking thousands of tonnes of drugs being produced just
across this border. In Myanmar there are so many military checkpoints
and roadblocks. You can't move that amount of drugs through a country
that is as militarised as Myanmar without the government's army
knowing about it.''
Mr Ball works at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the
Australian National University in Canberra, and has been following and
documenting the illicit drug trade in Myanmar for decades.
''I've been tracking not just opium, but also ya ba [methamphetamines]
coming from Myanmar. During that time the amount of ya ba coming into
Thailand reached as high as 800 million tablets. In 2009 and 2010 it
got higher, closer to one billion. Myanmar is the largest producer of
methamphetamines in the world and the second largest opium producer _
add the two together and Myanmar's the largest narcotic state in the
world.''
Media reports last month showed drugs from Myanmar are still flowing
into Thailand. A drug bust on the outskirts of Bangkok netted a
massive amount of methamphetamines coming from Myanmar _ 3,864,000 ya
ba tablets and 71kg of ya ice (crystal methamphetamine) with a street
value of more than one billion baht. A day earlier and close to where
Mr Ball's finger is firmly placed on his map, Thai soldiers shot dead
two smugglers crossing from Muang Yon on the Myanmar side of the
border to Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district carrying bags containing
100,000 ya ba pills, eight kilogrammes of ya ice and some heroin.
Mr Ball, a founding member of the steering committee of the council
for security cooperation in the Asia Pacific says that since 1996 the
United Wa State Army has become one of the world's largest and most
powerful drug traffickers _ with the support of Myanmar army units
stationed in border areas.
In a 1999 working paper, ''Myanmar and Drugs: The Regime's Complicity
in the Global drug Trade'', Mr Ball stated that, ''according to US
government estimates, Myanmar receives between $700 million and $1
billion in foreign currency from heroin exports annually.''
A report published by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) in
2010 _ ''Myanmar and Transnational Crime'' _ states Myanmar's
''illicit narcotics reportedly generate between $1 billion and $2
billion annually in exports''.
It's been more than 12 years since Mr Ball's initial report and he
remains convinced that Myanmar government officials are still highly
involved in the drug trade and at all levels.
''About 10 years ago, about 50% of Myanmar's foreign exchange came
from drugs. In recent years this has fallen, primarily because there
are other forms of revenue such as gas and oil. Drugs are now less
than 50%, but are still around 40%.''
Mr Ball says the Myanmar government does nothing to stop the drugs
because it is making lots of money from it.
''The military government is still involved _ the two most relevant
areas, the Golden Triangle and the North East Command are where the
most opium and ya ba production takes place. The military units based
there are intrinsically involved in the drug business _ they provide
security through checkpoints, transportation, cross-border passes and
extract taxes from farmers.''
Mr Ball says Mong Yawng on the Myanmar side of the border used to be
the centre of the drug trade but it has now moved further east.
''Across the border from Ban Arunthai and for about a 60km stretch
down the border to Pang Mah Pha on the Thai side is where drugs are
now being trafficked across from Myanmar.''
Mr Ball says militia forces aligned to the Myanmar army are running
mobile drug factories just across the border.
''They use up to 10 pickup trucks _ park them under the jungle canopy
_ one provides power from a generator, another has a pill press to
stamp out the drugs, one is a lab to mix the chemicals, another holds
a communications setup and then there are trucks carrying soldiers for
the security of the whole production facility.''
CEASEFIRE ARRANGEMENTS
Mr Ball explains that a major factor in the growth of opium
cultivation and heroin production has been ceasefire agreements and
business deals that the regime struck with most of the armed ethnic
armies in northeast Myanmar.
''These were mostly arranged by Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, who was No3 in the
regime at the time. It is more than disingenuous for the Myanmar
government to say they are not involved or making money from the drugs
_ they're up to their necks in it.''
Mr Ball's position contradicts the recent report from the UN Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) ''Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2011'', which
credits the Myanmar government's ceasefire agreements (since 1996)
with armed groups that led to a reduction in opium cultivation. The
UNODC report states, ''This paved the way for greater control by the
government of opium poppy-growing regions and allowed the
implementation of measures to reduce opium poppy cultivation.''
Mr Ball is contemptuous of the UNODC report. ''The explanations they
provide are ridiculous. The UN has no understanding of the dynamics
involved in the narcotics trade in Myanmar. This argument that the
ceasefire groups have led to greater control over the drugs is absurd.
We know the groups who have had the longstanding ceasefire
arrangements are those who have the greatest motivation in the drug
trade. Starting with the Wa, the Kokang, and various militia and
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army factions. It's part of the ceasefire
deals _ on one hand you accept the control of the government and on
the other hand you are free to engage in drugs.''
One man who agrees with Mr Ball's criticisms of the UNODC and his
assessment of the drug trade is Col Sai Htoo, assistant secretary-
general of the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP). Its armed wing,
the Shan State Army, had a 22-year ceasefire with the former Myanmar
regime.
Col Sai Htoo is prepared to name Myanmar army generals and militia
leaders he alleges have close links to the drug trade.
''Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, was the commander of the Golden
Triangle region based in Kentaung 20 years ago _ he was very close to
Yee Say and Ja Hsi Bo, [the] Lahu militia leaders and drug bosses.''
Col Sai Htoo explains how the Myanmar army helps vehicles carrying
drugs negotiate their way through the many checkpoints and roadblocks
in Shan State.
''The Myanmar army drives the lead escort car through the checkpoints
and the drug cars follow _ nobody in their convoy is stopped.''
Col Sai Htoo says farmers make little money from drugs.
''In Myanmar the drug money goes all the way to the top _ they and the
international drug gangs make the money. The Myanmar army has an
understanding with the drug traffickers _ one eye open, one eye shut _
the top generals give orders to stop growing poppy, but it is only an
order. When the DEA [US Drug Enforcement Administration], UN or other
international agencies give money to Myanmar to eradicate drugs, the
money goes straight into the pockets of the generals.''
The CRS report, ''Myanmar and Transnational Crime'', concurs with Mr
Ball's and Col Sai Htoo's position that the ceasefires aided the drug
traffickers rather than controlled them: ''Recent ceasefire agreements
in other border regions have not markedly improved the situation;
instead, these ceasefires have provided groups known for their
activity in transnational crime with near autonomy, essentially
placing these areas beyond the reach of Burmese law.''
Col Sai Htoo says he is surprised, considering the evidence, that
agencies such as the UN continue to rely on the government's support
to carry out their drug surveys. ''Drugs in Myanmar don't go down,
production keeps going up. If they are serious about stopping the
drugs, do what Thailand did 20-years-ago _ set up a programme to
educate and support farmers to grow alternative crops _ the government
has received millions to stop drugs [donated by international
agencies], but none of it gets to the people.''
Col Sai Htoo said he is willing to talk to any agency if they are
serious about stopping the flow of drugs. He says his ceasefire group
does not grow poppies or benefit from the drug trade as the SSPP has
had an anti-drug policy since 1973. The SSPP has just signed another
ceasefire agreement with a Myanmar government ''peace talks''
delegation.
''We recently signed an agreement, but for a ceasefire only and for
the Myanmar army to withdraw from our territory. Despite the ceasefire
the Myanmar army is still fighting in our area _ it seems the
government has a problem _ its army is not following its orders.''
Col Sai Htoo warns that stopping drugs in Myanmar will not be easy.
''There's no rule of law in Myanmar. Who has the most guns has the
most power and who in Myanmar has the most guns?''
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Community-based organisations such as the Palaung Women's Association
(PWA) and investigations by the Shan Herald Agency for News question
the reliability of the UNODC drug surveys, claiming they rely too much
on ''eradication reports and ground truthing'' of satellite imagery by
the Burmese military and police personnel.
The PWA's 2011 report ''Still Poisoned'' found that since Myanmar's
2010 national elections opium cultivation has increased significantly.
The PWA's general-secretary, Lway Nway H'noung, says opium cultivation
across 15 villages in Namkham Township has increased by a staggering
78.85% in two years. These villages are under the direct control of
government paramilitary ''anti-insurgency'' soldiers.
At the PWA office located on the Thai-Myanmar border Nway H'noung
points to a photograph of ''Panhsay'' Kway Myint, the recently elected
member of parliament for Namkham, and alleges he is the most
''prominent militia leader and drug lord in the area''.
Kway Myint is a member of Myanmar's ruling party _ the military-backed
Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
Nway H'noung acknowledges that Kway Myint did make good on his
election promises.
''He promised people who voted for him that they could grow opium for
five years and they can. He is the leader of the Panhsay People's
Militia, a drug lord and now a government MP. His militia can be seen
growing opium and they have the biggest acreage in the area. Kyaw
Myint has close links to the Myanmar army Light Infantry Battalion
144.''
Nway H'noung is sceptical that since Myanmar's elections the
government's reforms have done a lot for citizens and says it is more
a case of how low the bar has been dropped by international groups on
what is acceptable to allow them to engage with the government.
Nway H'noung gives an example of how the drug trade in her area has
allegedly increased since the 2010 election.
''In the 2008-2009 poppy season the total cultivation across 15
villages in Nakham was 617 hectares. In the 2010-2011 season it had
almost doubled to 1,109 hectares _ that's a 78.58% increase. Most of
the opium cultivation in Namkham occurs in the areas under the control
of MP Kyaw Myint.''
And Nway H'noung accuses the Myanmar army of running tax gates at
Namkham checkpoints. ''Everybody going through has to pay. A charcoal
seller said after he paid the tax he'd never sell enough to make it
worth working _ he asked the soldiers if he could go back home and not
have to pay ... He was made to pay.''
The Shan Herald Agency for News ''2011 Drug Watch Report'' alleges
that seven USDP members of parliament are also key drug lords.
Khuensai Jaiyen, the editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News, has
been reporting on Myanmar's drug trade for more than 20 years and
names the seven as _ ''Liu Guoxi in the national assembly, Ho
Xiaochang [aka U Haw and Haw Laosang] in the people's assembly, Khun
Myat in the people's assembly, Kyaw Myint [aka Win Maung] in the Shan
State Assembly, Keng Mai in the State Assembly, Bai Xuoqian [aka Pei
Hsauk Chen] in the Shan State Assembly and Myint Lwin [aka Wang
Guoda],'' Khuensai Jaiyen adds that, ''all seven are either militia or
Border Guard Force leaders''.
Khuensai Jaiyen says the international community and Asean have been
conned by the government's assertions that it runs aggressive crop
substitution and drug eradication programmes.
''In Shan State there are 55 townships. Only 11 can claim to be
reasonably poppy free. Out of those eleven, seven are along the
Chinese border and under pressure from Chinese authorities not to
cultivate poppies, the rest grow poppy.''
Khuensai Jaiyen accuses the Myanmar army of providing security for the
drug manufacturers.
''Refineries in Punako, Monghsat townships, opposite Thailand's Chiang
Rai, are guarded by Myanmar army Light Infantry Battalions 553 and
554. The Myanmar army local units know their rice pots are in the
poppy fields. When on a poppy destroying mission they get paid for not
destroying the poppies or for destroying poor quality fields chosen by
the growers.''
Khuensai Jaiyen explains that ''tax scales for growing are fixed
locally with the understanding that poppy fields will be left alone by
the army and, in the event that they have to be cut down in order to
satisfy Naypyidaw's public relation needs, the farmers will be
informed in advance so they have time to select suitable fields that
are either poor or already harvested.''
''2011 Drug Watch Report'', states that in Namkham, in northern Shan
State, each village is required to pay as much as 300,000 kyat (9,250
baht) to the Myanmar army to be allowed to grow opium.
The CRS report ''Myanmar and Transnational Crime'' points out that the
level of corruption in Myanmar is rampant among authorities.
''The US State Department and other observers indicate that corruption
is common among the bureaucracy and military in Myanmar. Myanmar
officials, especially army and police personnel in the border areas,
are widely believed to be involved in the smuggling of goods and
drugs, money laundering, and corruption.''
THE OPIUM FARMERS
Across the northern Thai border, layers of hills stretch, buckle and
blur into a distant Shan horizon.
A single plume of smoke rises white against the vast green landscape.
A thin dirt track scars the closest mountainside before disappearing
over a ridge.
Sai Wun, an opium grower, points to burnt scabs of hillside that are
being readied for poppies and explains why he grows them.
''If we grew other crops like vegetables to sell _ there's no road, no
market _ how could we survive? We get no support from the government
to grow vegetables, but if we grow poppies the army comes to our place
to buy it.''
Sai Wun planted 120 hectares of poppies last year on the side of Nong
Khang and says it was a bad year for him and his family.
''The rains came too early and there was too much of it. Poppies need
cold. It's not the terrain high or low, but the cold that's important
_ if your teeth are chattering, it's going to be a good crop,'' Sai
Wun said.
Sai Wun has been farming poppies for more than 10 years and says this
is the third time the Myanmar army has supported the growing.
''In the past we had to hide, now we don't, we even build huts in the
middle of our fields to sleep in. The Myanmar army controls our area
together with a Lahu militia. The Myanmar army are our main investors,
we sell 100% of our opium to them, they won't allow us to sell it to
outsiders or traders.''
Sai Wun explains that the militia comes to the farm to buy the opium
resin.
''Before we start growing, the Myanmar army visits the headman to
offer loans. The militia in our area is given orders from Myanmar army
Infantry Battalion 579 who controls the area. We get paid 25,000 baht
for 1.6kg of opium _ the price is low compared to what farmers get in
other less isolated areas _ that price includes the army's tax.''
Despite the rate, Sai Wun says it is hard work growing poppies.
''You need good soil, you need to weed three or four times, no
watering, we rely on the mist, there's enough moisture in it _ a bit
of rain just before cutting is good. We scatter seeds on the cleared
land, when it takes, we sort the plants into rows to give them room to
grow.''
Leaving Sai Mun, the Myanmar army and militia camps behind and driving
100km east along the Thai-Myanmar border. Passing Chinese graveyards,
tea plantations and crashed pickups we arrive at a meeting point to
talk to three opium farmers from the Shan towns of Mongton, Mongpan
and Namzang. Interviewing people involved in the drug trade generates
a certain amount of paranoia and a need for secrecy, but the farmers
interviewed for this story discussed the difficulties of growing opium
and said that if they didn't have it to grow, they wouldn't be able to
feed their families.
Mist rolled over the mountains and down into steep valleys, swirling
around the hillside village cutting visibility to less than 50m.
Nai Saw, squats on the concrete floor, sips at a hot, black tea held
in his work-hardened hands and says he paid the Myanmar army tax on
his poppy crop for 10 years.
''I paid them direct. Some years they came three times, it depended on
the officers and how much they needed. I was caught between two army
battalions, IB 66 and LIB 246. The soldiers also come and demand
chickens, pigs and even rice _ I had to give to them.''
Nai Thi sitting next to Nai Saw chips in, ''10 years ago we were paid
3,000 baht on the border to sell to Khun Sa, we had to deliver it to
him, now the buyers come all the way to us. I had four rai [0.64
hectares] and in a good season I can get 40,000 baht for 1.6kg. I had
to pay the Myanmar army 200,000 kyat tax for each rai.''
Nai Thi explains how the tax system works: ''Each group or village
that is growing is assigned to collect the tax. The village headman
takes the money to the army camp and pays the officers, or in some
cases it is given to the militia who pass it onto the army. You can't
refuse to pay.''
Farmer Wai Ta, 73, says his soil is poor and he harvests lower-quality
opium.
''Last year was bad for me I only got 20,000 baht for 1.6kg. My
quality was so low they needed to double the weight of my opium
compared to that of other farmers to get just one kilogramme of
heroin.''
The three farmers laugh and exchange looks when I ask them to clarify
the role of the Myanmar army in the opium production.
''It's a stupid question _ if the Myanmar army say don't grow it, we
can't grow it _ it's that simple. If there's no buyers, villagers
wouldn't grow it.''
********************************************************
ArabNews - Reforms bring hope, but challenges remain in Myanmar
By RICHARD JOHNSON
THE RECENT wave of reforms in Myanmar has had a positive impact on the
people of what was popularly known as Burma, but serious challenges
remain and must be addressed to improve the human rights situation and
deepen the country’s transition to democracy, according to a senior
United Nations official.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar,
Tomás Ojea Quintana, in fact warns: “There is a risk of backtracking
on the progress achieved thus far.”
Concluding his fifth mission on Feb. 5, he said: “At this crucial
moment in the country’s history, further and sustained action should
be taken to bring about further change.”
“Moving forward cannot ignore or whitewash what happened in the past,”
noted Ojea Quintana from Argentina, who was appointed by the UN Human
Rights Council in May 2008. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent
from any government or organization and serves in his individual
capacity.
“Facing Myanmar’s own recent history and acknowledging the violations
that people have suffered will be necessary to ensure national
reconciliation and to prevent future violations from occurring,” said
Ojea Quintana. It remains his firm conviction that justice and
accountability measures, as well as measures to ensure access to the
truth, are fundamental to the process.
The UN human rights expert said that the upcoming by-elections on
April 1, 2012 will be a key test of how far the government has
progressed in its process of reform. “It is essential that they are
truly free, fair, inclusive and transparent,” he stressed, revealing
that he had been informed that “the use of international observers was
under consideration.”
Prior to its assumption of the Chairpersonship of Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014, he said, “I would encourage
Myanmar to demonstrate concrete progress in improving its human rights
situation. The international community should remain engaged and
should support and assist the government during this important time.”
Since his last visit in August 2011, he said, there had been a
continuing wave of reforms in Myanmar, the speed and breadth of which
has surprised many international observers and many in the country.
The impact of these reforms on the country and on its people is
immediately perceptible.
During his latest six-day mission to Myanmar, Ojea Quintana not only
held talks with government ministers, members of Parliament, the
attorney-general, the Supreme Court’s chief justice, and
representatives of the Union Election Commission. He also met with
Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma’s independence
hero Aung San, members of the recently-established National Human
Rights Commission, and representatives of civil society organizations
and ethnic parties.
During his mission, Parliament was meeting in its third regular
session and was discussing a number of important issues, including,
for the first time, the country’s budget. Legislative reforms were
under way, including a new draft media law which he was told would
abolish censorship and provide some guarantees for the freedom of
opinion and expression.
Campaigning for the by-elections scheduled on April 1 had begun in
earnest and Suu Kyi’s activities and statements were covered in the
national media. She remained under house arrest for almost 15 of the
21 years from July 20, 1989 until her release on Nov. 13, 2010.
An initial agreement had been reached with another armed ethnic group
and negotiations continued with others, Ojea Quintana said. “It was
therefore important to assess the human rights situation in light of
these developments and at this key moment in Myanmar’s history.”
He also met with three prisoners of conscience in Insein Prison, as
well as with released prisoners of conscience, including members of
the 88 Generation Students Group, some of whom he had previously
addressed in his reports or had visited in prison.
He added: “While I was informed that prison conditions had generally
improved, I also received allegations of continuing ill-treatment by
prison officials and the continuing transfers of prisoners to prisons
in remote areas, often without their prior notification and without
proper notification of family members.”
The UN Special Rapporteur said the information he received of
remaining prisoners of conscience being held not only in Insein but
also in other prisons was of particular concern. “I therefore
reiterate that the government should release all remaining prisoners
of conscience without conditions and without delay. This is a central
and necessary step toward national reconciliation and would greatly
benefit Myanmar’s efforts towards democracy,” Ojea Quintana said. He
pleaded for “a comprehensive and thorough investigation” to clarify
“continuing discrepancies in the numbers of remaining prisoners of
conscience from different sources.”
He also faulted insufficient attention being paid to ensure the
effective implementation of the newly-promulgated and reformed laws.
“There is also a lack of clarity and progress on reviewing and
reforming the laws that I have previously identified as not in full
compliance with international human rights standards, such as the
State Protection Law, the Electronic Transactions Law and the Unlawful
Associations Act,” said Ojea Quintana. “These laws impinge upon a
broad range of human rights and have been used to convict prisoners of
conscience,” he added.
The UN Special Rapporteur said regardless of efforts made to reform
legislation, an independent, impartial and effective judiciary within
the powers of the Constitution is needed to uphold the rule of law and
act as a last guarantor for safeguarding fundamental freedoms and
human rights in Myanmar.
The judiciary is also essential for Myanmar’s transition to democracy
and should play an important role in ensuring checks and balances on
the executive and the legislative. He urged the judiciary to seek
technical assistance from the international community, particularly
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) and other organizations.
During the mission, the UN human rights expert also had the
opportunity to engage with members of the National Human Rights
Commission for the first time since its establishment by Presidential
Decree in September 2011. He was informed of some actions undertaken
by the Commission, including prison visits, visits to internally
displaced persons (IDPs) in Kachin State, the northernmost state of
Burma where, according to Human Rights Watch, the country’s armed
forces have committed serious abuses against ethnic civilians.
Concerns regarding the ongoing tensions and conflict with armed ethnic
groups in border areas, particularly in Kachin State, were
consistently raised during Ojea Quintana’s mission.
He said: “I received reports of violations being committed by all
parties to the conflict. While I welcome the government’s commitment
to peace talks and the progress made in this regard, such as the
agreements reached with various groups, including most recently, the
Mon, it is vital that these allegations and reports be urgently
addressed. I was informed that action had been taken on some cases
involving military personnel, but much more needs to be done. It is
also vital that the authorities and all armed groups ensure the
protection of civilians in conflict-affected areas.
Ojea Quintana said he was encouraged to hear that the resources
available to the National Human Rights Commission may be increased
significantly, including an increase in the number of staff supporting
its work.
He said: “Despite these positive developments, I am concerned that
there are no indications as yet that the Commission is fully
independent and effective in compliance with the Paris Principles. At
present, it seems that the Commission cannot fully guarantee human
rights protection for all in Myanmar. I was informed that the
Commission’s draft rules of procedure were being examined by the
judiciary, and were awaiting the approval of the Council of Ministers.
This sends the wrong signal that the Commission is not fully
independent from the government.”
Also, he was informed that its prison visits were dependent on
presidential authorization.
********************************************************
Monsters and Critics - Myanmar president warns of "jungle law of
superpowers"
Feb 12, 2012, 6:32 GMT
Yangon - Myanmar President Thein Sein on Sunday urged unity in keeping
national defence strong and warned of the 'jungle law of the
superpowers.'
'The entire nation needs to join hands in building powerful,
competent, patriotic modern armed forces,' he said on the 65th
anniversary of Union Day.
'If defence of the nation is weak, the nation will face the jungle law
of superpowers,' the former general warned.
Thein Sein, who became president in March, has pushed through several
political reforms such as cooperating with opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and freeing an estimated 600 political prisoners.
On February 12, 1947, Suu Kyi's father Aung San met with leaders of
ethnic minority groups in northern Myanmar to unify the country as it
headed toward independence from Britain, achieved in 1949.
The resulting Panglong Agreement is still celebrated as Union Day,
although it failed to end Myanmar's ethnic minority insurgencies that
still pose an obstacle to peace and political stability.
Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy on Saturday began
campaigning for 48 legislative seats in a by-election scheduled for
April 1.
The Nobel peace laureate is expected to win a seat and become the
opposition leader in parliament. There is even speculation that Thein
Sein might give her a cabinet seat.
Western democracies are regarding the by-election as a crucial
benchmark for the reform process. If free and fair, some sanctions
against the country are expected to be lifted.
'The entire nation will be overjoyed to see a democratic contest in
the elections and equal participation in state affairs,' Thein Sein
said. 'It can be seen that the new government is showing respect to
people's voices and fulfilling their aspirations.'
********************************************************
Monsters and Critics - ASEAN chief expresses concerns about Myanmar
reforms
Feb 12, 2012, 3:43 GMT
Yangon - The secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian
Nations expressed concern Sunday about business exploitation of
Myanmar at the expense of its people.
'I'm worried about all these people who are already gathering in
Bangkok and Singapore and who are bent on exploiting Myanmar's
resources and opportunities,' Surin Pitsuwan said in an interview with
the Myanmar Times.
Myanmar, which was under military rule during 1962-2010, has undergone
significant reforms since President Thein Sein took office in March,
sparking optimism that the long-isolated country is heading toward a
more democratic system and open economy.
Western governments have imposed sanctions on Myanmar since 1988, but
are now considering lifting them to reward Thein Sein's reforms.
Surin, who will visit Myanmar on February 19-22, raised concerns that
a rush of foreign investment might lead to unequal benefits.
'What friends of Myanmar need to do, is make sure that we remind
Myanmar's leaders that it is the welfare of the people that counts
most,' he said.
'The entrepreneurial spirit must not overshadow the need for schools,
hospitals, utilities, clean water and so on. We do not want the
opening up to bring more inequality and more disruption.'
The elected government is pro-military and packed with ex-army
officers. The military establishment that has run the country for
decades is well-positioned to benefit most from an influx of new
foreign investments.
Surin, a former Thai foreign minister whose five-year term as ASEAN
secretary general will expire this year, also noted questions about
the durability of Myanmar's reform process.
'We would like to see the signal of change from the top being
translated down to every government agency. It needs to be reinforced
and developed, it needs to be seen,' he said.
Myanmar will chair ASEAN in 2014, for the first time since in joined
the regional association in 1997. The 10-nation bloc groups Thailand,
Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Brunei,
Singapore and Malaysia.
********************************************************
Asian Tribune - Burma draws a new media law, but based on the old
Sun, 2012-02-12 01:43 — editor
By - Zin Linn
Burma Media Association (BMA) released a press statement on 9 February
concerning the new media law put forward by the Burmese government
last week. BMA says that government’s new media law may not guarantee
freedom of press, as well as freedom of expression.
Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association and Singapore-based Asia
Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) jointly organized a
two-day (January 30-31) media development workshop at Inya Lake Hotel
in Rangoon, the state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on 1
February.
According to Mizzima News, heads of the BBC, VOA Burmese services and
editors from Mizzima News participated in this media workshop. Also
more than hundred domestic journalists and news editors took part in
the conference.
The new media law, drafted by the Ministry of Information’s Press
Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD) was introduced at a media
workshop jointly organized at the end of January by Myanmar Writers
and Journalists Association and Singapore-based Asia Media Information
and Communication Centre (AMIC).
Even though local journalists, foreign-based Burmese journalists and
journalists from Asian countries were invited to the two-day event,
the participants didn’t get a chance to thoroughly discuss the
fundamental nature of the law.
According to Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), Mr. Tint Swe,
the deputy director general of the PSRD only presented the Table of
Contents of the draft law but not the
subject matter of the law. According to the BMA, sources close to the
PSRD told that the draft law itself was adapted from the Printers and
Publishers Registration Act enacted after the military coup d’état by
Ne Win in 1962.
BMA analyzes the draft media law that it should not be based on the
notorious Printers and Publishers Registration Act of 1962 which is a
synonym of oppression against the press.
“We need a fresh start,” the BMA’s chairman Maung Maung Myint said.
The BMA urges the government to abolish the 1962 Printers and
Publishers Registration Act, and completely overhaul the laws that
restrict freedom of expression, such as the 1950 Emergency Provisions
Act, Article 505/B of the Criminal Code and the 1923 Official Secrets
Act.
On 10 February, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) issued a
press release in support of BMA’s statement on Burma’s new media law.
IFJ says that Burma’s new media law needs to ensure press freedom.
"It is important that any new media laws introduced by the government
of Burma improve press freedom, and provide greater freedom and
security for journalists", IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park
said.
The IFJ joins the BMA in urging the government of Burma abolish the
1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act, and associated laws
designed to restrict freedom of expression, such as the 1950 Emergency
Provisions Act, Article 505/B of the Criminal Code and the 1923
Official Secrets Act.”
In its press release BMA also highlights, “Although Reporters Without
Borders’ Press Freedom Index 2011 ranked Burma a slightly better
position (169th) than in 2010 (174th) as a result of political reforms
including partial amnesties and a reduction in prior censorship, it
remained largely under the control of an authoritarian government run
by former members of the military junta reinvented as civilian
politicians. At least seven journalists still remain in prison at the
start of 2012.”
In August parliamentary session, Thingangyun Township’s Member of
Parliament Thein Nyunt submitted a proposal to the People’s Parliament
to revoke the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act that was adopted under the
pretext of an on-going civil war at the time, along with criminal laws
relating to it, according to Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)’s news
dated 31 August 2011.
Thein Nyunt’s proposal was discussed and voted in the parliament; the
results showed there were 336 votes against, 8 in favor and 41
abstaining votes, quoting MP Pe Than of Myebon Township in Arakan
State, DVB reported.
The said law is widely used by the Burmese government to discriminate
against political activists and journalists.
Without ensuring freedom of the press, no one will believe the reform
made by the government as a genuine process. As the press is the
fourth pillar of a democratic country, Burma must abandon all its
unfair laws and regulations that oppressed the freedom of expression.
********************************************************
Asian Tribune - Burma:CSW Returns From Kachin State With Evidence Of
Continuing Grave Human Rights Violations
Sun, 2012-02-12 01:23 — editor
London, 12 February, (Asiantribune.com):
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) returned this week from a three-
week fact-finding visit to Rangoon and Kachin State on the China-Burma
border, where the CSW team recorded evidence of grave human rights
violations.
CSW interviewed internally displaced people (IDPs) from Kachin State
and northern Shan State, and heard first-hand testimonies of killings
of civilians, torture, the destruction of homes, churches and
villages. CSW also received reports of rape.
In a report released today, Burma’s Union Day, which marks the 65th
anniversary of the Panglong Agreement, CSW documents these violations
and concludes that while “a window of opportunity for change in Burma
after decades of oppression and conflict may have now opened,” the
situation in Kachin and northern Shan States illustrate that “there is
still a very long way to go”.
Benedict Rogers, CSW’s East Asia Team Leader, said, “There are clear
signs of change in Burma, such as the release of significant numbers
of political prisoners and the decision by Aung San Suu Kyi and the
National League for Democracy (NLD) to contest parliamentary by-
elections, which we should welcome and encourage. However, the
evidence we heard from Kachin people was among the worst we have ever
heard. A very high proportion of the people we interviewed had family
members killed by the Burma Army. These were unarmed civilians, in
their paddy fields or homes, who were not engaged in armed combat in
any form. The accounts of torture and other abuses are a cause for
very grave concern, and the humanitarian challenges facing the
internally displaced people require an urgent and sustained response
from the international community.”
CSW was in Kachin State when the Kachin Independence Organisation
(KIO) held a first round of peace talks with the Government of Burma.
In the report CSW details the political steps required for a
meaningful, lasting peace process, including “a genuine inclusive
political process that involves all the ethnic nationalities, the
democracy movement and the government, that addresses the desire of
the ethnic nationalities for autonomy and equal rights within a
federal democratic structure in Burma, and that results in an end to
military offensives and armed conflict.”
Benedict Rogers added, “Today, on Burma’s Union Day, as the country
marks the 65th anniversary of the Panglong Agreement, we urge the
government of Burma to build on the reforms made so far by introducing
institutional and legislative reforms required to lead the country to
genuine change. These include amendments to the constitution, repeal
or amendment of unjust laws, and a sincere effort to begin a political
process that results in a mutually acceptable political solution for
all the people of Burma. The spirit of Panglong was based on equal
rights for all the ethnic nationalities, a degree of autonomy, and
respect for ethnic identity, within the Union of Burma. We urge
President Thein Sein to recapture that spirit today, and we call on
the international community to develop a balanced response,
recognizing and encouraging progress while maintaining pressure for
real change.”
********************************************************
February 12, 2012 5:59 am
The Financial Times - Myanmar reformist era enters new phase
By Gwen Robinson in Yangon
Myanmar’s reformist era entered a new phase as de facto opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi kicked off her campaign for a parliamentary
seat in a poor rural area south of Yangon.
Ms Suu Kyi has visited several parts of the country ahead of the
official start of campaigning for an April 1 by-election for 48
parliamentary seats.
But her first official appearance as a candidate, in the constituency
of Kawhmu on Saturday, highlighted what one diplomat described as her
“metamorphosis from icon to politician”.
In baking heat, Ms Suu Kyi stood in an open car sun-roof, smiling and
waving to cheering crowds as her convoy of 40 cars and hundreds of
motorcyles crept for seven hours along the bumpy, 31km-route to
Kawhmu.
The journey, which normally takes two hours, was broken by a rousing
speech in a rice paddy where she told a jubilant crowd of more than
2,000: “The journey we are on, with the people, is very rough but our
destination is peaceful… we need your strength, to overcome the
hurdles together”.
In a crucial test, Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is
contesting all 48 seats in the by-election for the 664-seat combined
houses of parliament. The seats were vacated by MPs who joined the
government after the 2010 polls.
Western governments have made the fair conduct of elections a
condition for lifting sanctions against Myanmar, along with the
resolution of conflicts with ethnic rebel groups and the release of
political prisoners. Diplomats and human rights groups estimate that
300-400 political detainees remain in prison.
One Yangon-based diplomat cautioned on Sunday that “free and fair
elections are not just about polling day”, and said Western
governments would closely monitor the campaign process.
Media attention has overwhelmingly focused on Ms Suu Kyi, but at least
19 other parties are fielding candidates in the April poll.
Despite expectations Ms Suu Kyi will sweep into parliament, “it’s
important to remember this is not a one-woman democracy”, said Khin
Maung Swe, a founder and leader of the National Democratic Force,
Myanmar’s second-largest opposition party.
However, NDF members will support Ms Suu Kyi and her MPs in parliament
“if their policies are good for the country,” Mr Khin Maung Swe said.
After all, “this is the time for state-building, not power fighting”.
With a national member base of about 10,000, the NDF is tiny compared
with Ms Suu Kyi’s NLD, which had to re-register as a party for the
April 1 by-election after boycotting the 2010 general election. NLD
organisers estimate they have so far signed up about 500,000 members.
It is a deeply ironic moment for Mr Khin Maung Swe and the NDF. A
political detainee for 17 years, he was an ardent NLD supporter but
led a breakaway group in a bitter split after Ms Suu Kyi urged the
electoral boycott in 2010.
The NDF won a total 16 seats in parliament and regional legislatures
in that poll and is the only mainstream opposition party to hold more
than a few parliamentary seats. This time, it will contest just 12 of
the 48 seats.
● An activist Buddhist monk and former political prisoner who was a
leader of the “Saffron Revolution” uprising in 2007 was released on
Friday night after a brief detention by the authorities. Shin Gambira,
32, was taken from a monastery in Yangon for questioning by police
early Friday morning after reports he had tried to break into
monasteries shuttered after the protests. He was jailed in December
2007 for 68 years but freed last month in a sweeping amnesty for
political prisoners.
********************************************************
Focus Taiwan News Channel - Myanmar's democratic reforms attract
Taiwan, Vietnam investors
2012/02/11 10:03:28
Hanoi, Feb. 11 (CNA) As Myanmar undergoes democratic reforms and
adopts a more open door policy, it has attracted an increasing number
of investors from Taiwan and Vietnam.
Since the country's reforms began last March, many Vietnamese and
Taiwanese investors are optimistic about Myanmar's market, but are
waiting for the United States to lift sanctions imposed on the
country, said Liu Wen-ta, a Taiwan businessman who has been investing
in Myanmar's glass fiber industry for over a decade.
The former ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development
Council, which held onto power for 23 years, dissolved itself in March
2011, and the country is now going through a phase of democratic
transition.
In 1988, the U.S. placed different sanctions including visa bans,
economic and financial sanctions on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma,
to protest human rights violations committed by the military junta.
Myanmar has good law and order, good quality workers and lower wages
than neighboring countries, said Liu.
New factory employees are usually paid a monthly salary of US$60 to US
$70, and many of these workers are ethnic Chinese from China's Yunnan
Province, which helps reduce language barriers and management risks
for Taiwanese businessman, Liu added.
The Southeast Asian nation has also seen a rapid growth in the real
estate market, Liu said, adding, in some cases, property is worth 10
times its original value. Landowners have become wealthy, even though
many places in the country are still underdeveloped, Liu stated.
Liu estimated there were 200 Taiwan businessman in the former British
colony.
Myanmar has not restricted the maximum investment foreigners can make
in the country, but has restricted land use and the length of leases,
and it can be difficult for foreign investors to obtain land, said an
unnamed Taiwan businessman.
However, local investors can obtain long-term leases that can run for
30 to 60 years, or even indefinitely, the businessman added.
Besides investments from Taiwan businessman, Vietnamese businesses are
also taking the lead and pouring investment into Myanmar.
High ranking officials from Myanmar and Vietnam signed a bilateral
cooperation agreement in April 2010. In the agreement, Myanmar
encouraged Vietnam companies to invest in the country's agriculture,
basic infrastructure and natural gas industry.
By 2015, bilateral trade between the two countries is expected to
reach US$500 million.
At present, the Myanmar government does not allow foreign banks in the
country. However, Vietnam banks might be the first to obtain permits
to set up establishments in the country, reflecting the friendly
relations between the countries, said a Vietnamese investment
consultant based in Myanmar.
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