Burma Related News - June 01, 2012.

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• From: BRN <mtinkyi@xxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2012 10:03:18 -0700 (PDT)

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - JUNE 01, 2012
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AP - Aung San Suu Kyi urges world to temper its optimism on Myanmar's
reform process
AP - Suu Kyi calls for 'healthy skepticism' on Myanmar
AP - Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi says she is too busy for Facebook for
now
AFP - Myanmar censor to put down his black marker for good
Reuters - Myanmar president cancels Thailand visit
Bloomberg - Suu Kyi Calls for Myanmar Job Creation to Defuse ‘Time
Bomb’
Bloomberg - Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Says Reforms Depend on Military
Commitment
CNN - Myanmar's Suu Kyi cautions on 'reckless optimism'
New York Times - Myanmar Dissident Cautions Prospective Investors
Yahoo! India News - Myanmar response encouraging: PC
Asia Times Online - Failed path to peace in Myanmar
Washington Post - Remote China border town hopes for boom as Myanmar
opens but faces backlash first
China Daily - Myanmar's economic opening concerns Chinese investors
The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Shines, But Party’s PR Machine Stumbles
The Irrawaddy - Govt Closes Jade Mines to Squeeze KIO
The Irrawaddy - Forced Labor Deemed Rife Despite ILO Report
Mizzima News - Amnesty Int’l visits Burma: report cites abuses,
progress
Mizzima News - On-arrival tourist visa for Burma starts Friday
DVB News - Suu Kyi calls for ‘urgent’ legal reform in Burma
DVB News - ILO to ease criticisms on Burma forced labour
DVB News - Suu Kyi demands better rights for Burmese migrants
*****************************************************
Aung San Suu Kyi urges world to temper its optimism on Myanmar's
reform process
By Jocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press | Associated Press – 10 hrs
ago

BANGKOK - Myanmar's opposition leader and former political prisoner
Aung San Suu Kyi urged the international community Friday to exercise
"healthy skepticism" toward her country's reforms as it sheds a half-
century of military rule.

It is not the first time that Suu Kyi has called for caution in the
world's approach to Myanmar — but it is the first time the Nobel prize
winner has uttered the sentiment on foreign soil in a speech that was
broadcast live across several time zones.

After 24 years of isolation in Myanmar, Suu Kyi received a standing
ovation as she took the podium at the World Economic Forum, where she
delighted the audience with a story about being invited into the
cockpit as she landed in Bangkok — her first international flight in
decades. At first she marveled at the high-tech control panel but then
was "completely fascinated by the light" of modern Bangkok sprawled
out below her.

The forum's founder, Klaus Schwab, introduced her as "one of the most
extraordinary personalities this century."

The 66-year-old Suu Kyi spent 15 out of 22 years locked under house
arrest by the former military regime. She was granted freedom after
Myanmar held elections in 2010 and was elected to Parliament in April,
capping a stunning personal story.

Since elections last year, Myanmar's President Thein Sein has
surprised much of the world by engineering sweeping reforms, but Suu
Kyi noted that the country is still in the very early phases of making
democratic reforms.

"These days I am coming across what I call reckless optimism," she
said, drawing applause from the room packed with several hundred
people and a wall of TV cameras. "A little bit of healthy skepticism I
think is in order."

Myanmar's reforms have prompted the U.S. and Europe to ease economic
sanctions they imposed during the military's regime, but some human
rights groups have warned that while those moves are good for the
country's development they will weaken incentives to continue
democratic reforms.

Suu Kyi's speech lasted about 10 minutes and was followed by a
question-answer session with Schwab. She focused her talk on how the
world could help "that little piece of the world that some of us call
Burma and some of us call Myanmar."

She listed the country's most essential needs as secondary education
to foster political reforms and jobs to end high youth unemployment
that she called "a time bomb." She said Myanmar still lacks rule of
law and an independent judiciary.

"We need basic education in Burma," she said, "the kind of education
that will enable our people to earn a decent living for themselves."

Myanmar's sputtering economy, in ruins after half a century of
military rule and years of harsh Western sanctions, has led to huge
unemployment and has forced millions of people to seek jobs abroad.

"I keep telling our people, it's true that we are behind everyone else
but it means we can learn from the mistakes of everyone else," she
said.

Dressed in blue silk with a strand of white flowers in her hair, Suu
Kyi drew laughter from the crowd as she shared the anecdote of her
first impressions of leaving Myanmar after 24 years of isolation. Suu
Kyi said that the captain of her Thai Airways flight was "so very kind
as to invite me to sit in the cockpit."

Bangkok is a stark contrast to sleepy Yangon where rolling blackouts
due to electricity shortages have spurred protests for more than a
week. Thirty years ago the two cities were not so far apart, she said,
but: "Now the difference is considerable."

She drew laughter from the audience by adding: "What went through my
mind was, 'We need an energy policy!'"
*****************************************************
Suu Kyi calls for 'healthy skepticism' on Myanmar
By JOCELYN GECKER | Associated Press – 7 hrs ago

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar's opposition leader and former political
prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi urged the international community Friday to
exercise "healthy skepticism" toward her country's reform process as
it sheds a half-century of military rule.

It is not the first time that Suu Kyi has called for caution in the
world's approach to Myanmar — but it is the first time the Nobel prize
winner has uttered the sentiment on foreign soil in a speech that was
broadcast live across several time zones.

After 24 years of isolation in Myanmar, Suu Kyi received a standing
ovation as she took the podium at the World Economic Forum, where she
delighted the audience with a story about being invited into the
cockpit as she landed in Bangkok — her first international flight in
decades. At first she marveled at the high-tech control panel but then
was "completely fascinated by the lights" of modern Bangkok sprawled
out below her.

The forum's founder, Klaus Schwab, introduced her as "one of the most
extraordinary personalities this century."

The 66-year-old Suu Kyi spent 15 out of 22 years locked under house
arrest by the former military regime. She was granted freedom after
Myanmar held elections in 2010 and was elected to Parliament in April,
capping a stunning personal story.

Since elections last year, Myanmar's President Thein Sein has
surprised much of the world by engineering sweeping reforms, but Suu
Kyi noted that the country is still in the very early phases of
building a democracy.

"These days I am coming across what I call reckless optimism," she
said, drawing applause from the room packed with several hundred
people and a wall of TV cameras. "A little bit of healthy skepticism I
think is in order."

Myanmar's reforms have prompted the U.S. and Europe to ease economic
sanctions they imposed during the military's regime, but some human
rights groups have warned that while those moves are good for the
country's development they will weaken incentives to continue
democratic reforms.

Suu Kyi said later at a news conference that she didn't doubt Thein
Sein's desire to make reforms, but that he was not the country's sole
power

"I do believe in the sincerity of the president when he speaks of his
commitment to reform," she said. "But I also recognize that he's not
the only person in government. And, as I keep repeating, there's the
military to be reckoned with."

Anticipating huge aid and investment to develop Myanmar's stunted
infrastructure, she said she hoped foreign firms would invest
cautiously and transparently, so the influx of money can benefit the
impoverished masses.

"We do not want more investment to mean more possibilities for
corruption," she said. "Our country must benefit."

Suu Kyi's initial speech at the forum lasted about 10 minutes and was
followed by a question-answer session with Schwab. She focused her
talk on how the world could help "that little piece of the world that
some of us call Burma and some of us call Myanmar."

She listed the country's most essential needs as secondary education
to foster political reforms and jobs to end high youth unemployment
that she called "a time bomb." She said Myanmar still lacks rule of
law and an independent judiciary.

"We need basic education in Burma," she said, "the kind of education
that will enable our people to earn a decent living for themselves."

Myanmar's sputtering economy, in ruins after half a century of
military rule and years of harsh Western sanctions, has led to huge
unemployment and has forced millions of people to seek jobs abroad.

"I keep telling our people, it's true that we are behind everyone else
but it means we can learn from the mistakes of everyone else," she
said.

Dressed in blue silk with a strand of white flowers in her hair, Suu
Kyi spoke publicly for the first time since arriving Tuesday about her
first impressions of the outside world after 24 years of isolation.

The Oxford graduate said she was amazed before even stepping off the
plane, where the captain of her Thai Airways flight was "so very kind
as to invite me to sit in the cockpit."

Bangkok is a stark contrast to sleepy Yangon where rolling blackouts
due to electricity shortages have spurred protests for more than a
week. Thirty years ago the two cities were not so far apart, she said,
but: "Now the difference is considerable."

She drew laughter from the audience by adding: "What went through my
mind was, 'We need an energy policy!'"
*****************************************************
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi says she is too busy for Facebook for now
Associated Press – 3 hours ago

BANGKOK (AP) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is bullish
on democratic reform, but she's not so sure about Facebook.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner — who was held under house arrest as a
political prisoner for much of the past 22 years without even a
telephone — was asked Friday at the World Economic Forum on East Asia
when she would join the 900-million member social network.

She said it was not an issue with adjusting to new technology, but a
matter of finding the time. She said she will join when her schedule
opens up.

"Mind you, you never know what will happen with the technological
revolution," she said at a news conference. "Facebook may be old hat
tomorrow. In that case, I won't go on Facebook."

Under Myanmar's previous military junta, her countrymen with Internet
connections were blocked by a government firewall from accessing many
sites. The reformist but still military-backed government elected last
year has since eased most of those restrictions.

Suu Kyi herself had a broadband internet connection installed at her
house shortly after her release.

Suu Kyi also said Friday that she is a big fan of mobile phones, and
opposes Myanmar's tight licensing rules on them.

"This means that we cannot promote the distribution of cellphones as
much as we would wish to, and I think we would all agree that
cellphones are very important in both the political and economic
opening-up of any country," she said.
*****************************************************
Myanmar censor to put down his black marker for good
By Shwe Yinn Mar Oo | AFP – 4 hrs ago

The tormentor-in-chief of Myanmar's heavily censored media will put
down his black marker pen for good in a month, signalling the end of
one of the world's most draconian press scrutiny regimes.

Tint Swe, head of the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department
(PSRD), said he will release its iron grip on the country's media in
the latest significant reform for a country emerging from decades of
repression.

"There will be no press scrutiny job from the end of June. There will
be no monitoring of local journals and magazines," he told AFP in an
interview in his office in Yangon.

"I would say it is the right time rather than we are ready. When we
have parliament and government working on democratic process, how can
censorship work at the same time?," he said.

Stifling pre-publication censorship -- applied in the past to
everything from newspapers to fairy tales and the winning lottery
numbers -- was one of the key symbols of junta-ruled Myanmar, where
even seemingly innocuous details were scrubbed from public discussion.

Sweeping reforms under a new quasi-civilian government have seen a
lighter touch from the once ubiquitous censors, with less
controversial publications freed from scrutiny last year.
Editors across the news media are now eager to have the same freedom.

A more open climate has seen private weekly news publications publish
an increasingly bold range of stories, including those about
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose very name was taboo in the
past.

Tint Swe directed the PSRD for seven years, mercilessly changing
headlines, slashing paragraphs or scrapping entire articles deemed
critical of the military and its cronies.

"He had one of the worst jobs in Myanmar," said an editor at a news
weekly who requested anonymity. "He was pressured from above by
ministers, officials and powerful business people to keep stories out
and pressured from below by editors to keep stories in."

In March 2011 the junta handed over power to former soldiers who have
pushed reforms, initially pilloried as cosmetic by the West and the
opposition but now seen as a step towards democracy by an
international community that has begun to ease sanctions.

Within months after president Thein Sein took power, hundreds of
political prisoners were released and opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi was offered a seat in the political mainstream.
Reporters jailed under the junta have also been freed from long prison
sentences.

Some subjects have remained difficult to approach, particularly on-
going fighting between the army and ethnic rebels in northern Kachin
state.

But news organisations are clearly keen to push the boundaries.

In March, The Voice weekly said the Auditor-General's Office had
discovered misappropriations of funds and fraud in the ministries of
mining, information, agriculture and industry.

The mining ministry filed a lawsuit against the journal. The case is
still ongoing, but a court has already sided with the newspaper by
saying it did not have to disclose the name of the journalist.

"When the political context got freer, people got freer to think and
we, the censorship board, got headaches to adjust to it," Tint Swe
said, admitting the period was "sensitive" after many years of
distrust.

Analysts have recently said that information minister Kyaw Hsan, who
is seen as a hardliner, has been increasingly isolated within the
reform-minded government. Some even believe he could soon be sidelined
in an expected cabinet reshuffle.

The regime has also been working for several months on a draft press
law.

Details have not been made public, but some media organisations have
been invited to submit proposals. It should cover areas such as
journalists' rights, professional ethics, and how publishers and
distributors will be registered.

According to some official sources, it may well be adopted at the next
session of parliament in July, and will be accompanied by the creation
of a Press Council.

"People say that the Press Council will be like the censorship
department. This is wrong," Tint Swe said, describing it mainly as a
conciliatory body between journalists and the ministry.

The former army officer hinted that the dark days of censorship were
behind Myanmar -- the PSRD will be responsible for registering new
publications and archiving, but it will no longer be a censorship body
-- and it is a development that he is clearly pleased with.

"It is the most auspicious news possible for everyone in the industry
that the censor process is going to be abolished," Tint Swe said.
*****************************************************
Myanmar president cancels Thailand visit
Reuters – 3 hrs ago

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar President Thein Sein has postponed next
week's two-day visit to Thailand, both countries said on Friday, just
days after he decided against attending the World Economic Forum on
East Asia in Bangkok.

Thein Sein's office said on its website that a new date would be fixed
at a more convenient time. It gave no explanation for postponements of
both the June 4-5 and May 31-June 1 visits.

The former junta general, who has been lauded by the international
community for introducing unprecedented reforms since coming to power
last year, was due to give a speech at the economic forum, which
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi attended.

Suu Kyi's visit, which received widespread media coverage, was her
first trip outside Myanmar in 24 years, 15 of which were spent in
detention under the junta.
*****************************************************
Bloomberg - Suu Kyi Calls for Myanmar Job Creation to Defuse ‘Time
Bomb’
By Daniel Ten Kate - May 31, 2012 11:24 PM PT

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for investments that
create jobs to avoid a “time bomb” of youth unemployment on her first
trip abroad in 24 years after the former dictatorship shifted toward
democracy.

“I’m extremely worried about the high level of unemployment in my
country, particularly youth unemployment,” Suu Kyi told reporters at
the World Economic Forum on East Asia conference in Bangkok today.
“That’s a time bomb. Many of our young people are already following
the wrong path.”

Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi smiles at her supporters
in Mahachai. Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg

The former political prisoner who won the Nobel Peace Prize during her
15 years under house arrest became a lawmaker last month after her
National League for Democracy party won 43 of 45 seats in April 1 by-
elections. The move prompted the U.S. and European Union to ease
economic and financial sanctions as the former dictatorship loosens
its grip on power.

London-based WPP Plc (WPP), the world’s biggest advertising company,
and Tata Motors Ltd. (TTMT), India’s biggest automaker, announced
moves to expand in Myanmar last month, while General Electric Co. and
Honda Motor Co. are among other companies considering investing in the
nation of 64 million people. Myanmar is “set for economic takeoff” if
it implements the right policies, the International Monetary Fund said
last month.

Investment Warning

Suu Kyi warned companies that Myanmar’s investment law “would be of no
use whatsoever” in a dispute because the country’s legal system
remains unreliable. She called for transparency in all investments and
aid projects, saying projects like Italian-Thai Development Pcl
(ITD)’s plan to build an $8.6 billion deep-sea port in Myanmar left
people “completely in the dark” about what the contracts contained.
“Whatever investments, governmental agreements, whatever aid might be
proposed, please make sure that this is transparent,” she told
reporters in a briefing after her speech. “We have to make this quite
clear, otherwise we may find the benefits go to one particular group
or one particular person even.”

Suu Kyi declined to say which types of investments she wanted to see
Myanmar attract because “I might be giving the kind of signals I
should not be giving at the moment. But let me say I’m thinking in
terms of low-hanging fruit because we require quick creation of
jobs.”

Mobile Phones

Suu Kyi, who also spoke on a panel about women’s rights that included
Telenor ASA (TEL) Chief Executive Officer Jon Fredrik Baksaas, called
for the elimination of licensing requirements that make it difficult
to acquire mobile phones. One in 30 people in Myanmar have a mobile
phone and less than 1 percent of the population has an Internet
connection, Nomura Holdings Inc. said in a March 14 report.
Suu Kyi also called for companies to help train employees in the
services industry to meet demand from “a tremendous flood of
tourists.”

“You would be helping our economy to go forward in a very acceptable
way,” she told participants in the forum. “Short courses can give
people a start in some job that will also give them an opening into a
higher level of employment.”

Myanmar announced yesterday it would allow visas on arrival for
investors from 26 countries, including the U.S., Germany, China and
the U.K.

Thai Beverage Pcl (THBEV), Thailand’s biggest producer of beer and
whiskey, is exploring potential investments in the country.

“It doesn’t have to be an acquisition,” Chief Executive Officer
Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi said yesterday in an interview with
Bloomberg Television in Bangkok. “We have been discussing with the
local partners there and that would be a great opportunity going in to
one of probably the most attractive markets at the moment.”

Migrant Workers

Since arriving in Bangkok three days ago with a seat in the airplane’s
cockpit, Suu Kyi has met throngs of Myanmar migrant workers and
discussed their plight with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm
Yoobamrung. She called for better treatment for the estimated 2
million laborers, about 60 percent of whom are unregistered and thus
ineligible for health care and a 300 baht ($9.43) minimum daily wage.

“If we were able to offer them the job opportunities that they get
here, then they would not need to come here,” Suu Kyi said. “It was
very touching to meet our workers and to find out how much they long
to go home.”

Thai rubber plantations will face labor shortages as workers from
Myanmar leave for their home country, Pongsak Kerdvonbundit, president
of the Thailand Rubber Association, said at the World Rubber Summit in
Singapore last week. A lack of workers represents “the most important
issue in Thailand now,” he said.

Unemployment

The IMF estimates Myanmar’s unemployment rate at 4 percent compared
with 0.7 percent in neighboring Thailand. Myanmar’s per capita gross
domestic product amounts to about 15 percent of Thailand’s, according
to data from the IMF. The government has moved to connect with the
global financial system, dismantling a fixed exchange rate earlier
this year and revising investment laws.

Suu Kyi returns to Myanmar on June 3 and will travel later this month
to Europe. She visits Geneva and Norway before arriving in the U.K.,
where she’ll address both houses of Parliament on June 21. Suu Kyi
graduated from the University of Oxford and married a British citizen
who died in 1999.

Myanmar President Thein Sein, who declined an invitation to attend the
WEF event, took power 14 months ago and has won praise for freeing
political prisoners, loosening media restrictions and persuading Suu
Kyi to stand for parliament. Suu Kyi, while welcoming the suspension
of sanctions, said Myanmar’s reforms must be seen with a “healthy
skepticism.”

“These days I’m coming across a lot of what I would call reckless
optimism,” Suu Kyi told the World Economic Forum participants. “That
is not going to help you. It’s not going to help us.”
*****************************************************
Bloomberg - Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Says Reforms Depend on Military
Commitment
By Daniel Ten Kate - May 31, 2012 6:43 PM PT

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the sustainability of
political reforms in the country will depend on the commitment of the
miltary and the nation.

Suu Kyi, speaking at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok
on her first trip abroad in 24 years, also said her country needs to
improve basic education to bolster economic development and ensure the
reform process becomes irreversible.

Suu Kyi said investment in Myanmar should not create more corruption
and “greater privilege for the already privileged.” Instead,
investment should focus on job-creation, and informal training for
Myanmar’s workforce.
*****************************************************
Myanmar's Suu Kyi cautions on 'reckless optimism'
By Hilary Whiteman, CNN
updated 6:03 AM EDT, Fri June 1, 2012

(CNN) -- From her seat on the stage at the World Economic Forum,
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told a packed room what she
was thinking as her plane prepared to land in Thailand for her first
foreign trip in 24 years.

The Nobel laureate said she was sitting in the cockpit at the
invitation of the pilot and was "completely fascinated" by the
shimmering lights of Bangkok on the ground below.

"I thought, 30 years ago, the scene that met my eyes on landing in
Bangkok would not have been very different from what would have met my
eyes on landing in Rangoon. But now the difference is considerable,"
she said.

On leaving Myanmar three days ago for an historic trip to Thailand,
Suu Kyi said locals were holding candlelight protests across the
country against electricity cuts "that have been plaguing us for a
month or so."

Of seeing the lights of Bangkok, Suu Kyi paused, smiled and said, "I
have to say very frankly that what went through my mind is that 'we
need an energy policy'."

A ripple of laughter and applause ran through the audience in
recognition of Suu Kyi's enduring commitment to change in a country
ruled for 50 years by a military junta. For many of those years, she
was held under house arrest for daring to call for reforms.

During that time, Myanmar's moribund economy forced millions to leave
the country in search of work in neighboring countries. Human rights
groups estimate there are around three million Burmese migrants in
Thailand alone.

Suu Kyi, the founder of Myanmar's National League for Democracy party,
has received a celebrity's welcome on her first foreign trip since
winning a seat in Parliament in April. Her ability to leave Myanmar
safe in the knowledge she can return marks another step forward for a
government which in the past two years has made a number of surprising
concessions.

In the run-up to the first free and fair elections in decades,
opposition parties were allowed to campaign. Suu Kyi was even given a
platform on state television and radio.

In the months before, the government pardoned hundreds of political
prisoners, secured a ceasefire with Karen rebels and agreed to
negotiate with other ethnic rebel groups. The concessions prompted
many Western governments to review their long-standing economic
sanctions against the country.

However, despite all the changes, Suu Kyi has warned against what she
called "reckless optimism" about the country's current pace of reform.
"Optimism is good but it should be cautious optimism. I have come
across reckless optimism. A little bit of healthy skepticism is in
order," she said.

Optimism is good but it should be cautious optimism. I have come
across reckless optimism

Aung San Suu Kyi

Suu Kyi said that the priorities for the country were basic education
and the rule of law. "We need the kind of education that will allow
people to make a decent living for themselves."

The NLD leader said Myanmar was not short of good laws, but that the
country lacked a "clean and independent judicial system" to uphold
them. She urged potential investors to keep that in mind so that any
money plowed into the country aided, not hindered, its progress.

"We do not want investment to mean more possibilities for corruption,"
she said. "We do not want investment to mean greater inequality. And
we do not want investment to mean greater privileges for those already
privileged."

Suu Kyi's visit to Bangkok comes ahead of a longer trip to Europe in
June during which she will make a series of key addresses, including
the acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize that she was prevented
from collecting in 1991 because she was in detention.
*****************************************************
New York Times - Myanmar Dissident Cautions Prospective Investors
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: June 1, 2012

BANGKOK — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate and leader of
Myanmar’s democracy movement, stared down into an audience of
corporate executives here on Friday and issued a blistering assessment
of her country’s judicial system.

“Would-be investors in Burma, please be warned,” she said, referring
to the country by its former name. “Even the best investment laws
would be of no use whatsoever if there are no courts that are clean
enough and independent enough to be able to administer those laws
justly. This is our problem: So far we have not been aware of any
reforms on the judicial front.”

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech to the business audience here came
during her first trip outside her country in 24 years, many of them
spent under house arrest. She did not sugarcoat her message.

She told the executives and bankers in the audience, many of whom do
business with Myanmar or plan to invest there, that her country’s
educational system was a shambles, that youth unemployment was a “time
bomb” and that Myanmar is not a “genuinely democratic society.”

“I would not like you to be overoptimistic,” she said. “These days I’m
coming across a lot of what I would call reckless optimism.” She said
many young people in Myanmar had lost their way and were drinking,
taking drugs and gambling. “If this goes on, we will not be able to
reform them, let alone our own country,” she said.

As a dissident who was detained at her home for 15 years by Myanmar’s
military, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was known for her defiance of the
military, stubbornness and strong will. Now a member of Parliament,
elected under a new civilian government’s fledgling political reforms,
she did not modulate from that tone at the conference on Friday, which
was put on by the World Economic Forum, the group that also hosts the
annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

But by cautioning investors at a time when the impoverished country is
courting them, some in the audience thought that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi
had gone too far.

“I thought she was excessively pessimistic,” said Joseph E. Stiglitz,
a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York who has
helped advise the Myanmar government during its transition from
military dictatorship.

Mr. Stiglitz said that despite “uncertainties” and a weak judicial
system, foreign investors could expect good returns. He compared
Myanmar to China. The rule of law is very weak in China yet the
country has grown at an impressive pace for the last three decades and
foreign investors have profited, he said.

In Myanmar, “there is a commitment on the part of the current
government to try to attract investment,” Professor Stiglitz said.
“That commitment implies it will be sensitive to the concerns of
investors.”

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said she did not want to discourage investment.
She spoke of a healthy skepticism. “I think you should see it as a
word of caution, a strong word of caution,” she told reporters.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Thailand on Tuesday, the first time
she had traveled outside Myanmar in 24 years.

Her message of caution contrasted with a presentation at the same
conference by U Than Htay, Myanmar’s minister of energy, a speech that
received much less prominent billing. “The new government is
encouraging foreign investors to invest in wide-ranging industries,”
Mr. Than Htay said.

Mr. Than Htay spoke in place of Myanmar’s president, Thein Sein, who
was to have attended but canceled at the last minute. His visit to
Thailand had been rescheduled for next week but that was also
canceled, the Thai Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Mr. Than Htay’s speech was a classic pitch to potential investors and
contrasted sharply with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s remarks. The government
is “making important strides” in education policies, he said.

Mr. Than Htay spoke about the country’s tourism potential, its vast
jungles and mountains for “adventure-seeking sport enthusiasts.” He
touted several special economic zones that the government had approved
for foreign investors.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, by contrast, said the zones were being created
without any transparency. Specifically addressing an economic zone
near the border with Thailand, she said, “We, the people of Burma,
were kept completely in the dark about what was in the contracts,
about what was going on.

“This is very dangerous for a country,” she said. “It endangers
national reconciliation. It engenders more and more suspicion and
mistrust.”

One of the executives who heard Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s remarks on
Friday was Stuart Dean, the chief executive officer of General
Electric Asean, the Southeast Asian branch of the American company.

Mr. Dean acknowledged that there were risks in investing in Myanmar
but said that the country could not pass up the opportunity. “Our view
is that you’ve got to look at the risk of going into an emerging
market like Myanmar,” he said in an interview. “But at the same you’ve
also got to look at the risk of not going into the country.”

Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that
the United States was suspending restrictions on investment by
American companies in Myanmar.

Myanmar government officials visited the Washington offices of General
Electric on Wednesday and asked the company to help devise an energy
policy, Mr. Dean said. General Electric plans to open an office in the
country later this year.

Mr. Dean said there were limits to talking about the risks of
investing in Myanmar. “They need electricity,” he said. “I can’t
imagine that we ship some turbines there and they don’t pay us for
them. Who else is going to ship turbines once that story gets out?”

General Electric’s dealings with the government so far were very
positive, he said. “It’s early days. But it appears to be an easy
place to do business,” he said. “I’m sure it won’t always be like
that. But right now it’s pretty good.”
*****************************************************
Yahoo! India News - Myanmar response encouraging: PC
By Nishit dholabhai | www.telegraphindia.com – 16 hours ago

New Delhi, May 31: Union home minister P. Chidambaram today said
Myanmar's response to New Delhi's demand for handing over Indian
insurgents and not allowing them to use Myanmarese soil was
encouraging.

The statement comes on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
three-day visit to Myanmar that concluded on Tuesday.

"Our concerns were two-fold. Firstly, we do not want any part of
Myanmar territory to be used by Indian insurgents. Secondly, if the
government of Myanmar has arrested insurgent leaders we would like
them to be handed over to us," Chidambaram told reporters.

The first test of Naypyitaw's commitment will come on June 10, the
deadline set by Myanmar for insurgents, particularly those based in
Manipur valley, to leave Myanmar.

With engagements between New Delhi and Naypyitaw ranging across the
security, cultural, political and economic spectra, there is
confidence that Myanmar may want to act against interests inimical to
India.

The Myanmar government has already told Naga rebel leader S.S.
Khaplang to tell valley-based groups taking shelter in Naga areas to
pack up.

Several Manipuri militants like Chirom Robert alias Lanngamba of the
Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), N. Shanti of Peoples' Revolutionary
Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) and Chaoren of the People's Liberation
Army (PLA), are based in Myanmar and shuttle between that country and
China.

Ulfa leader Paresh Barua is in northern Myanmar but security officials
feel since he is closer to China and the Beijing-influenced United Wa
State Army, Naypyitaw may not be in a position to flush him out.

Intelligence sources said Chidambaram may have high hopes but
practical realities may be different. "There is a need for cautious
optimism as insurgents do help local economy and also have contacts
within Myanmar army at the middle level," one of the sources said.

On Chidambaram's reference to handing over of arrested militants, the
sources said at least six Prepak cadres, all with Myanmarese aliases,
were in Myanmar army's custody. But the leaders were still at large.

The valley-based outfits have formed a coordination committee (CorCom)
with an action station in Myanmar, which shares a long border with
Manipur.

There is a renewed focus on Barua with Chidambaram today saying there
were "contacts between his faction and Maoists". This connection is
surfacing more prominently now with arrests in Guwahati. On May 18,
sanction was accorded to prosecute three accused in a case of nexus
between the PLA and the CPI (Maoist) for trying to "wage war against
the nation".

Singh's visit to Myanmar may also restrain the NSCN (Khaplang)'s India-
based leadership, whose liberties may now be controlled by the Myanmar
government at New Delhi's behest.

"The talks were fruitful but what follows is to be seen," Chidambaram
said.

He said during his recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh, he had held a
security review meeting with chief minister Nabam Tuki. The focus was
on implementing the CCS-approved plan for Tirap, Changlang and
Longding districts that border Myanmar.
*****************************************************
Jun 2, 2012
Asia Times Online - Failed path to peace in Myanmar
By Bertil Lintner

CHIANG MAI - Talks between the Myanmar government and ethnic
resistance groups have raised hopes of a lasting solution to decades
of ethnic strife, but the country's established history of failed
ceasefires threatens to repeat itself with potentially disastrous
consequences for new foreign-funded peace and reconciliation
initiatives.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the northern Kachin State, where
fighting between ethnic rebels and the Myanmar government flared up
again last year after years of peace. The Kachin Independence Army
(KIA) entered into a ceasefire agreement with the central government
in 1994 that ended decades of civil war but failed to produce a
political solution to the group's calls for autonomy and other
rights.
The then-ruling military junta told the KIA that a new constitution
had to be promulgated and an elected government installed before it
could engage in a political dialogue about autonomy. KIA
representatives participated as observers in a National Convention,
which the junta set up to draft a new constitution, and agreed to hold
a referendum on the charter in the area under their control in May
2008.

When the new constitution was promulgated and general elections held
in November 2010, the promised political dialogue failed to
materialize. Instead, the KIA came under pressure to put down their
arms and join a Border Guard Force under the command of the Myanmar
army. In exchange, they were offered little more than business
opportunities, similar to the terms of the original 1994 ceasefire
that led to the reckless exploitation of Kachin State's once abundant
forests and resources by Chinese businessmen, local entrepreneurs and
certain KIA officers.

The ceasefire collapsed on those broken promises, and hostilities
resumed in June last year as government forces moved into KIA-held
areas. A year later, fierce fighting continues in the far north of the
country, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee to the Chinese
border or take shelter in major Kachin State towns. The renewed
fighting has been attended by widespread reports of rights abuses,
raising questions about the sincerity of President Thein Sein's
internationally lauded political reform program.

Those efforts include tenuous ceasefires with other armed ethnic
groups, including the Shan State Army (SSA) and the Karen National
Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union. However,
the recent talks between Thein Sein's government and ethnic groups are
following the same dead-end pattern seen in the now failed Kachin
ceasefire.

At a meeting in the far-eastern town of Kengtung held between May
19-20, SSA and government representatives signed a 12-point agreement
to "restore peace" in that long restive part of the country. Apart
from humanitarian issues such as resettlement and "rehabilitation" of
people displaced by the fighting, the agreement only contains
references to "existing laws" on all major issues; autonomy is not on
the negotiation table.

The government's primary aim of the negotiations is to get the SSA to
accept the 2008 constitution and convince armed rebels to return to
what successive military administrations have consistently termed as
the "legal fold".

Talks with Karen rebels, who are also fighting for autonomy in the
areas they control, have been along the same lines. They have been
offered business opportunities in exchange for peace but no promise of
constitutional reform. Because the 2008 constitution does not
recognize federalism, there is no negotiating space for concessions
that would jeopardize the military's notion of a unitary state with
itself at its apex.

Minor amendments may be made to the charter by a majority vote in
parliament, as seen in the lifting of the ban on the opposition
National League for Democracy that allowed the party to contest by-
elections on April 1.

But a tangle of 104 clauses means that major charter changes cannot be
made without the prior approval of more than 75% of all members of
parliament, after which a nationwide referendum must be held where
more than half of all eligible voters cast ballots. This complicated
procedure makes it virtually impossible to make any substantial
changes on issues of federalism and ethnic region autonomy, especially
considering 25% of all seats in the upper and lower house are reserved
for the military.

Irreconcilable differences
There are now two fundamentally opposing views on how Myanmar's ethnic
question should be resolved. For the government, the solution to
ethnic strife is for the rebels to lay down their arms in a gradual
approach under terms stipulated by central authorities. For ethnic
rebels, hopes are that the ceasefire process will through negotiations
eventually lead to the establishment of a federal union and more
regional autonomy.

Certain ethnic groups seem to have pinned their hopes on a number of
international peace and reconciliation outfits that have recently
flocked to the country to assist in the reconciliation process. Thein
Sein's government, on the other hand, wants the same foreign
interlocutors to help persuade armed resistance groups to effectively
surrender and embrace the terms of the new charter.

The Norwegian government has earmarked some US$5 million to support
its own peace plan and has asked other donors for additional
assistance, while several other international nongovernmental
organizations have offered their services as intermediaries. Critics
argue the foreign pressure will not be on the government to amend the
constitution - a far-fetched proposition in any case - but rather on
the rebels to agree to work within the new existing political
structures in exchange for development assistance in their respective
areas.

Despite their lavish foreign funding, the peace initiatives are
essentially non-starters. Sai Wansai, general secretary of the Shan
Democratic Union, a non-armed Shan interest group, said in a recent
statement posted to the Internet that "the change of political system,
and not just a few paragraphs change here and there of the 2008
constitution, is a necessity for long-lasting peace and political
settlement."

While fighting and mediation efforts continue in Kachin State, sources
with access to military insiders say that the central government
refuses to accept that the KIA is representative of the Kachin people.
They argue instead that the "elected" Kachin State government and its
"chief minister", Lajawn Ngan Seng, who was appointed after the rigged
2010 election swept by military-backed candidates, are the true
democratic representatives of the Kachin State.

From this perspective, the KIA must be co-opted into the system or

wiped out militarily. Not surprisingly, several rounds of talks
between the Kachins and the government, most held in neighboring
China, have failed to produce any tangible results.

The government's hard-line stand has had consequences that authorities
may not have anticipated when the peace process began. According to
Kachin sources, the negotiations have led to the emergence of a new,
younger generation of Kachin leaders who are more driven by political
struggle than commercial interests.

The most charismatic of these new leaders is KIA vice chief of staff
General Sumlut Gun Maw, a physics graduate from Mandalay University
who joined the KIA in 1987, a year before the nationwide uprising for
democracy. Many of his old classmates and contemporaries took part in
that suppressed uprising, and Gun Maw has maintained throughout that a
solution to the ethnic conflict and the struggle for democracy are
equally important.

Despite the rebel group's name, the KIA does not advocate independence
from Myanmar but rather is fighting for ethnic rights and federalism.
The Kachins are a predominantly Christian people who rose in rebellion
in 1961 after the government tried to make Buddhism the state
religion. Christianity continues to be an important factor in Kachin
life and society. The fact that government appointed chief minister
Lajawn Ngan Seng belongs to the Kachin State's tiny Buddhist minority
was seen by many Kachins as a slight to local culture and
sensitivities.

The problems are similar in all parts of the country where non-Burman
nationalities reside. Other ethnic groups in Myanmar will sooner or
later have to confront the same issues that compelled the KIA to scrap
its 1994 ceasefire and resume fighting. As Shan leader Sai Wansai
argues, as long as the core problem - the highly controversial 2008
constitution - is not addressed, "it is hard to imagine that the
ethnic conflicts within [Myanmar] could be resolved anytime soon."

Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic
Review and author of several books on Burma/Myanmar, including Burma
in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency Since 1948 (published in 1994, 1999
and 2003) and The Kachin: Lords of Burma's Northern Frontier
(published in 1997). He is currently a writer with Asia Pacific Media
Services.
*****************************************************
Washington Post - Remote China border town hopes for boom as Myanmar
opens but faces backlash first
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, June 1, 12:22 AM

RUILI, China — This remote southwestern Chinese city of about 140,000
nestled in a river valley on the Myanmar border amassed huge wealth
over decades of trade and smuggling of drugs, timber and jade. Now,
China’s main trading gateway to its long-isolated neighbor is waiting
for a new boom that may never come.

Along the river, lush golf courses and luxury villas evince gold-rush
expectations. A sprawling 16 billion yuan ($2.5 billion), five-star
resort is rising above the city, the showcase of a local tycoon.

In fields along a still-uncompleted expressway stand stacks of big
black pipes for a 770 kilometer (480 mile) pipeline to carry Middle
East gas and oil shipped through the Indian Ocean from Myanmar to
thirsty Chinese industries far to the east.

But the legions of gem and jewelry, electronics and household goods
shops in Ruili’s export zone are almost deserted. Cars and trucks with
black Myanmar plates trickle through the border checkpoint, hauling
televisions and computers, construction materials and household goods
for which there are few buyers.

“Business is not going so well. The rent is getting higher and higher
and there are more and more business people, but not so many
customers,” said Li Qingsan, manager of Sanxing Trading, which sells
bicycles and bike parts.

The malaise stretching from crisis-stricken Europe all the way to the
remotest corners of China is partly to blame. Fierce fighting between
Myanmar forces and the Kachin ethnic minority in the north of the
country, which was known as Burma until 1989, is also putting a damper
on their border trade.

The robust trade with China that brought wealth to Ruili is also
bringing a backlash. As Myanmar’s government reaches out to foreign
investors, and tentatively opens its markets, it is also reassessing
ties with the Chinese, who for years provided succor to Myanmar’s
reviled generals while amassing ever greater economic influence.

“The whole relationship is very difficult right now. For decades China
was the only country Burma could do business with, and the Burmese
people are very unhappy with their treatment,” said Sean Turnell, an
economist at Australia’s Macquarie University. “The Burmese are
anxious to reassert their sovereignty.”

That desire was evident in Myanmar’s decision to cancel the Myitsone
hydropower dam on the Irrawaddy River, which the project’s contractor,
China Power International Corp., is lobbying to have resurrected.

Beijing has invested billions in the impoverished country, building
mines and dams, roads and pipelines and making deep inroads into
restive northern areas. Chinese trade with Myanmar hit $6.5 billion in
2011, according to International Monetary Fund figures, up almost 50
percent from a year earlier, with China running a surplus of $3.1
billion.

But dislocation and environmental damage from those projects has
helped fuel renewed fierce fighting between government forces and
ethnic Kachin insurgents, analysts say.

Recent protests over chronic power shortages, and over the gas
pipeline, highlighted resentment in Myanmar over energy and
infrastructure deals that have earmarked big shares of the country’s
abundant natural gas and hydroelectric power for use in China while
failing to redress Myanmar’s own energy crisis.

In Ruili’s market, jade trader Huang Shishou, bored and eager for
conversation, enthusiastically sprayed water on several football-sized
stones brought in from Myanmar, holding a flashlight against their
dull surfaces to show the emerald translucence within.

“Here, have a seat! Take a look! You don’t have to buy,” Huang said.

In the city’s dusty, ramshackle industrial zones, the yards of timber
mills large and small are stacked high with rosewood and teak from
Myanmar’s dwindling forests.

“It used to be that we had so much work, we had trouble finding people
to do it,” said Xie Wenhua, manager of a workshop that turns blocks of
rosewood from Myanmar into intricately carved chairs, tables and
bookshelves.

“Now, it’s just a bit of work at a time. Only rich people can afford
to buy this, and people don’t seem to want to spend money right now.”

Many still expect that the lifting of U.S. and European Union economic
sanctions against Myanmar will boost trade from China’s industrial
regions through Ruili and other border areas in Yunnan, a mostly
mountainous province that has close ties with all its Southeast Asian
neighbors.

For centuries, commerce thrived along this southwestern Silk Road,
helped by ties between indigenous ethnic groups and Chinese on both
sides trading opium and heroin, jade, rubies and timber.

The Yang family’s car parts and hardware store, in the frontier town
of Houqiao, once did a booming business, in the days when trucks
loaded with precious teak from Myanmar rolled through, often breaking
down along the winding old Burma Road.

These days, the cross-border timber trade in these parts is mostly
clandestine, and the renewed fighting with the Kachins is disrupting
trading, local residents say.

“When they cracked down on the logging trade, the trucks stopped
coming. These days, there’s almost no traffic because of fighting
across the border,” said Yang Shihan, 20-year-old grandson of the
business’s owner.

Houqiao, whose name means “monkey bridge” in Chinese, is just 155
kilometers from the Myanmar city Myitkyina and vital rail and water
links to the rest of the country. It’s 550 kilometers to the Indian
city Ledo.

During World War II, the town’s strategic location lent it a critical
role, as Allied and Chinese forces fought the invading Japanese.
Families like the Yangs are scattered across the borders: several of
Yang’s grandfather’s siblings fled to Myanmar during the tumultuous
1966-76 Cultural Revolution, and an elder brother to India.

The region’s abundant minerals and other resources could make it a hub
for growth, but only if the fighting is brought under control, says
Macquaire University’s Turnell.

“Those are all areas of immense potential, but they must reach a
broader political settlement,” he said.

Like Ruili and other border towns, for now it is an outpost in limbo.

Unfinished streets lead to a future industrial park and warehousing,
trading and exhibition zone. Up the road lie checkpoints and an army
base tasked with keeping Myanmar’s conflict within its own borders.

Myanmar is renewing efforts to seek a cease-fire with the Kachine
rebels. Without peace, any new infrastructure in the region would be
prone to attack, said Jan Zalewski, an analyst with IHS Global
Insight.

Yang, who opted to join the family business instead of seeking work
further inland, has pinned his hopes on an expressway, under
construction 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, which could eventually
link Houqiao and the rest of China to northern Myanmar, India and
Bangladesh.

“Once they build the road we will be able to sell much more than we
can now, even to India,” said Yang.
*****************************************************
Myanmar's economic opening concerns Chinese investors
Updated: 2012-06-01 07:51
By Zheng Yangpeng (China Daily)

While all the signs point to the ushering in of an "economic spring"
in Myanmar, as great opportunities attract foreign investors, there is
unease among Chinese businessmen.

The latest sign of this "spring" is Myanmar's liberalization of its
exchange rate.

On April 1, Myanmar introduced a managed float of its currency, the
kyat, to help normalize and unify its exchange rates.

The same month witnessed Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, the
National League for Democracy, achieve a landmark victory in
parliamentary by-elections.

The Southeast Asian country, which had poor relations with the West
for more than two decades, is also rolling out incentives to woo
foreign investors.

The nation's law on foreign investment is expected to be amended soon,
which will introduce tax exemptions for foreign investors

At a recent seminar in Beijing on investment in Myanmar, Soe Han,
counsellor of Myanmar's embassy in China, explained the planned
changes to the law.

He said customs duties for machinery and equipment during a new
foreign project's construction period would be exempted, and income
taxes would be waived for three consecutive years
Value-added taxes in Myanmar, once as high as 200 percent, were cut
dramatically, with an upper limit of 5 percent.

And the situation for foreign investors will be even more attractive
in Myanmar's special economic zones.

In its Special Economic Zones Law passed in January, foreign companies
in the zones can enjoy tax holidays for the first five years, and 50
percent relief on income taxes for exported products. Myanmar now has
three special economic zones: Kyauk Phyu on the west coast, and
Thilawa and Dawei Seaport on the south coast.

"These policies are very favorable, much more favorable than China's
policies," said Xu Ningning, executive secretary-general of China-
ASEAN Business Council, who also attended the seminar.

Myanmar's economic liberalization has stirred enthusiasm for the
impoverished but resourceful country among Western companies, which
have been unable to do business with it due to long-standing
sanctions.

In fact, Western companies are already moving into the country.

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co, said it was entering the
Myanmar market with a local partner, while Standard Chartered Plc has
said it is interested in re-entering the country.

US investor Jim Rogers said: "If I could put all my money into
Myanmar, I would."

In contrast to Western companies' excitement, there are mixed feelings
among Chinese entrepreneurs, who are concerned about the heated
competition.

"Their entry is just a matter of time," Li Min, general manager of
China Texmatech Co Ltd, told China Daily at the seminar. His company
is helping build production facilities for Myanmar's state-owned
textile producer.

He said the funding of Myanmar's state-owned enterprises was
previously not a problem, but now the funding has to be approved by
the nation's parliament.

"We used to compete mainly with Chinese companies. Now I'm afraid that
we are going to compete with companies from the West, Japan and South
Korea," Li said.

Chinese companies are also worried about the volatility of Myanmar's
government.

Last August, Myanmar President Thein Sein abruptly called off the
construction of a Chinese mega-dam project in Myitsone, citing
constant complaints from local residents and opposition forces.

After the incident, leaders from both Myanmar and China tried to play
down the issue. But it has undoubtedly cast a shadow over future
investment from China.

"Of course we are concerned about the incident," said Ma Jun, a
project manager of China Railway International Ltd, which has
contracts for two road projects in Myanmar.

As a result, Chinese companies are increasingly aware of their
projects' environmental and social consequences.

In his speech at the seminar, Li Zilin, vice-president of China
National Petroleum Corp's Southeast Asia Pipeline Co Ltd, dealt mainly
with his company's ethical approach and its work to help improve local
people's lives.

CNPC's most important project in the country is a 2,000-kilometer gas
pipeline that runs through the heart of Myanmar and ends at Kunming in
southwestern China's Yunnan province.

CNPC holds a 50.9 percent stake in the project, while the remainder is
held by Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, the country's oil and gas
industry monopoly.

"Until now, there has not been a single environmental inquiry from a
third party," Li said, adding the construction is proceeding smoothly
and is expected to be completed in July next year.

But Xu Ningning said Chinese companies should be confident about their
strengths, given their large and long business presence in the
country, geographical and cultural proximity, and the close
relationship
between the two countries' governments.

The Chinese mainland is currently the largest investor in Myanmar,
having dedicated $13.95 billion by April, according to the Myanmar
embassy.

The power industry is the area in which Chinese businesses are most
active, accounting for 63 percent of Chinese investment. This is
followed by oil and gas with 25 percent, and mining with 11 percent.

These lucrative sectors are off limits to 100 percent foreign owned
companies, according to Myanmar's Foreign Investment Law. Foreign
companies are allowed a stake of no more than 35 percent when forming
joint ventures with domestic enterprises.

Xu suggested Chinese investors should be particularly alert to
Myanmar's policy changes. "Actually, more players in the country could
bring prosperity to this country, thus creating more opportunities for
our investors," Xu said.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Shines, But Party’s PR Machine Stumbles
By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| June 1, 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi’s first trip abroad in more than two decades has
attracted intense international interest, but also a certain amount of
criticism of her party’s handling of an event that should have been an
unmitigated triumph.

While few in the media would deny that Suu Kyi’s trip to Thailand has
been the photo opportunity of a lifetime, many say that it also showed
a weak understanding on the part of her National League for Democracy
(NLD) of the need to cooperate with the press.

Some of this frustration seeped through in an article by Thomas Fuller
of The New York Times, who noted earlier this week that planning for
Suu Kyi’s visit “appears to have been an afterthought” and
euphemistically described Suu Kyi’s style as “spontaneous.”

Although some media managed to capture the moment Suu Kyi set foot on
foreign soil for the first time in 24 years, the time of her arrival
at Bangkok’s international airport on Tuesday night was a mystery to
most, because no one at the NLD’s headquarters in Rangoon was
available to confirm it.

Responding to criticism of the party’s apparent lack of coordination,
NLD spokesperson Ohn Kyaing explained that the problem stemmed largely
from a lack of access to modern tools of communication.

“We hope that the international media understands that we don’t have
all the high-tech gadgets,” said Ohn Kyaing, speaking to The Irrawaddy
by phone from Rangoon on Friday. “Our headquarters doesn’t even have
contact with [Suu Kyi and her team in Thailand] right now.”

“We need to discuss this before for her future trips and find some way
to improve the situation,” he added.

Even days after her arrival, however, there is still a certain amount
of confusion surrounding Suu Kyi’s itinerary. After two trips to
Mahachai, an area on the outskirts of Bangkok that is home to
thousands of Burmese migrant workers, and today’s attendance at the
World Economic Forum on East Asia, she is expected to visit refugee
camps on the Thai-Burmese border on Saturday.

The details of this trip, however, are unclear. Her head of security,
Khun Thar Myint, has not been available for comment on who she will
meet when she travels to Mae Sot, a border town that is host to a
number of dissident organizations. Only her visits to Mae La, the
largest camp, and Dr. Cynthia’s clinic have been confirmed.

According to Ohn Kyaing, the NLD has an information department, but
none of its members accompanied Suu Kyi on this trip, and even
executive members of the NLD have not been fully informed of the
arrangements made for her.

Ohn Kyaing added that this is not the first time that the media has
expressed dissatisfaction with the NLD. He said that when Suu Kyi met
with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak last month, only reporters
from four journals were invited to cover the event. But, he explained,
this arrangement—which caused some friction between the party and
journalists who were unable to attend—was made by the Burmese
government and South Korean security officials, not the NLD.

There was also another incident last month that provoked a great deal
of discussion about the NLD’s relations with the media. In the first
week of May, an altercation took place between an NLD security officer
and a journalist who tried to take a photograph of Suu Kyi during her
visit to the Shwe Min Thar Foundation for the disabled.

Both sides accused the other of starting the incident, which led to a
formal letter of complaint being sent to the NLD by the journalist.
“It needs further investigation, as they both said they were assaulted
first,” said Ohn Kyaing.

Win Tin, a veteran journalist and respected leader of the party, said
he agrees with critics who say that the NLD is not sufficiently media-
friendly. In a recent interview with VOA, he said he has often had to
remind fellow party members, including a former spokesperson, “to
treat the media well and not think of it as an enemy.”

“The NLD should review the criticism and evaluate it,” said respected
veteran journalist Maung Wuntha. “If the criticism helps the NLD
improve, the party should not ignore it.”

Win Tin went further. “The media must criticize the NLD,” he said, if
the party is to grow stronger.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Govt Closes Jade Mines to Squeeze KIO
By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY| June 1, 2012

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has claimed that the
Burmese government is attempting to block its main means of income by
ordering jade mining companies in Hpakant Township to halt production.

The KIO’s military wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), is
currently engaged in a protracted conflict with government troops in
northernmost Burma and has interests in the area’s mining operations.

“They are trying to block our income by closing the mining companies
there,” Col James Lum Dau, KIO deputy head of foreign affairs, told
The Irrawaddy on Friday. “Let’s see how much success they have. They
will one day regret what they will lose from invading other people’s
land.”

Insiders fear that the lack of ready cash may cause the KIA problems
buying armaments and supplies. The KIO is already struggling to
provide aid for refugees as the government has blocked UN agencies
from reaching the area since the middle of May.

Hpakant is situated 159 km to the northwest of Myitkyina, the capital
of Kachin State. The region is famous for producing precious jade
stones and hundreds of workers from different part of Burma,
especially around Mandalay and Arakan State, flock there to find work.

However, many have already returned to their hometowns after the
Ministry of Mining set May 31 as the deadline for companies to stop
work for a period of five months. The ministry said the closures were
to preventing dangerous flooding and landslides during the rainy
season which claims many lives each year.

Zaw Moe Htet, a jade businessman from Hpakant, said that the
government has never ordered a mining operation to close for this
reason before. However, he revealed that many relatives of KIO leaders
invest in the mines and then pass on funds to the rebel group.

According to the Kachin Development Network Group (KDNG), foreign
mining companies from China and Russia have already left Hpakant after
Naypyidaw deployed more troops in the area to target KIA Brigade 2.

The KDNG said that jade forms the main income for the KIO, which
allowed mining in the area to the detriment of the local environment
since signing a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government in
1994.

“There is political conflict in Kachin State,” said KDNG spokeswoman
Seng Mai. “We do not want the companies to come back. They should only
come back when the conflict has been resolved.”

She said that local people should benefit from mining operations while
the environment must be protected to international standards.

Fierce fighting has taken place in Kachin State ever since a 17-year
ceasefire agreement between the KIO and Burmese government broke down
last June. Around 75,000 refugees have been forced to flee from their
homes to live in temporary camps by the Sino-Burmese border.

“We offered them mining areas during the ceasefire,” said James Lum
Dau. “But they want more now and they come and attack us. They are the
people who come and make problems for us.”

Railways Minister Aung Min, Naypyidaw’s leading peace negotiator, met
the KIO on Friday for informal talks in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State,
after an initial meeting in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, on May 21.

Several rounds of peace talks have already taken place between the
parties to no avail, but observers are hopeful that the latest efforts
could prove fruitful after a new peace team comprising Aung Min and
Burmese President Thein Sein was formed last month.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Forced Labor Deemed Rife Despite ILO Report
By CHARLIE CAMPBELL / THE IRRAWADDY| June 1, 2012

Human rights groups insist that forced labor continues to be widely
and systematically practiced in Burma in contrast to an upbeat
International Labour Organisation (ILO) report deemed key to removing
further trade restrictions.

A special sitting on Burma is due to be held on Saturday during the
International Labour Conference to review restrictive measures placed
in 2000, and an ILO mission this month stated that “there had been a
substantial reduction in, or in some cases a cessation of forced
labor, particularly in the last few months.”

However, both the Arakan Project and Shan Human Rights Foundation
(SHRF) humanitarian groups have rubbished this assessment and claim
that forced labor is a part of daily life for many ethnic minorities.

“We have never received any wages, not even a cup of tea, from the
army or the Nasaka [Burma border security force] for all the work we
do for them year after year. Instead, we are insulted and harassed if
we do not work properly,” a 21-year-old Rohingya farm laborer from
Buthidaung Township told the Arakan Project.

Positive testimony from the ILO is seen as vital towards negotiating
further trade concessions in the wake of the easing of international
sanctions—specifically the key inclusion in the European Union and
World Trade Organization generalized system of preferences (GSP),
which reduces tariffs for developing nations.

However, “Forced Labour Still Prevails: Overview of forced labour
practices in North Arakan,” released on Thursday, claims that there
has been little progress in northern Arakan State despite a Memorandum
of Understanding signed between the Burmese government and ILO in
March aiming at the elimination of forced labor by 2015.

This month, the Nasaka requisitioned around 250 villagers from four
areas of South Maungdaw on a daily basis to excavate a diversion canal
on the Myin Hlut River, claims the Arakan Project report.

The SHRF concurs and said on Thursday that although the ILO’s liaison
officer in Burma reported it received “an indication that the military
has fully accepted equal responsibility to work within the framework
of Burmese laws,” a more careful observation indicates otherwise.

“Many months after the nominally civilian Burmese government came to
power, the use of unpaid civilian forced porters by the Burmese army
troops in Shan State was still frequent and widespread,” said the
SHRF.

“Virtually all the Burmese military patrols that roamed the rural
areas of Shan State forcibly conscripted villagers to serve as unpaid
guides and porters, often for several days at a time. They also often
forcibly took villagers’ livestock and other property and forced
civilian porters to carry them, and were quick to find fault with and
beat up the villagers.”

A number of nations—including EU members, the United States, Canada
and Australia—have or are in the process of lifting trade sanctions on
Burma. However, many economists believe that the military-dominated
nation will find it difficult to remain competitive without acceptance
into the GSP, which is where a favorable report from the ILO becomes
crucial.

Under the GSP, developed countries offer non-reciprocal preferential
treatment (such as zero or low duties on imports) to products
originating in developing countries. Preference-giving countries
unilaterally determine which nations and which products are included
in their schemes.

In June 2000, the ILO recommended that Burma should be able to “take
advantage of [international] relations to perpetuate or extend the
system of forced or compulsory labor referred to by the
Commission of Inquiry.” Removing these conditions would indicate that
forced labor was no longer a major concern under President Thein
Sein’s reformist administration.

Yet the Arakan Project reports that children—some as young as nine or
10—make up around a fifth of forced laborers in the north of the
state. They are sometimes beaten on the worksite if they do not
perform their duty adequately, claims the report, adding that a 10-
year-old boy interviewed said he was hit with a stick by a Nasaka
officer who had caught him playing in the camp.

“In northern [Arakan] State at least, Myanmar has yet to take concrete
steps to effectively implement two key recommendations of the 1998 ILO
Commission of Inquiry—eradicate the practice and prosecute perpetrators
—and to translate formal commitments into action on the ground in all
regions of the country,” said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan
Project. “It would therefore be premature for the ILO to lift the
measures adopted in 2000.”
*****************************************************
Amnesty Int’l visits Burma: report cites abuses, progress
Friday, 01 June 2012 12:35 Mizzima News

Amnesty International concluded its first official visit to Burma
since 2003, it said in a recent statement.

The two-week mission to Rangoon and Naypyitaw consisted of 49
meetings, the majority of which, though confidential, were held in
public places, it said.

AI said its representatives talked with government officials;
political parties and their Members of Parliament; members of the
diplomatic community; lawyers and other civil society actors; ethnic
minority activists; former political prisoners as well as the families
of current political prisoners and a representative of the National
Human Rights Commission.

“These meetings afforded Amnesty a preliminary opportunity to assess
Myanmar’s current human rights situation,” it said.

Political imprisonment

Summing up its impressions, it said a number of former political
prisoners noted that they had only been conditionally released under
provisions set out in Section 401 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
However many told Amnesty International that they have been relatively
free to resume their political activity without harassment or
intimidation.

However, Amnesty International believes that hundreds of political
prisoners remain behind bars. Due primarily to a lack of transparency
by the government, exact numbers are not known. It said: "We regard
political prisoners as persons who have been imprisoned on account of
their political activity, even if they committed or advocated
violence. They should be afforded a prompt and fair trial under an
internationally recognized offense, or be released. Some government
officials told our delegation… that nearly all names on various lists
of current political prisoners do not correspond to prisoners of any
kind, but are ‘just names’.”

Because of discrepancies in numbers and definitions of political
prisoners, there was broad agreement among nearly every relevant
person Amnesty International spoke with in Burma – including officials
– that the government should initiate a review process.

“While a representative of Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission
expressed interest in this proposal, the current capacity of the
Commission—mandate, resources, budget, and staff—is insufficient and
should be urgently strengthened by the Myanmar authorities,” it said,
adding that the International Committee of the Red Cross should be
given access to the prison system.

The rule of law

“Most political prisoners in Myanmar have been sentenced under laws
that place the country well outside of international norms and
standards on the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and
association,” said AI. “Legal reform in Myanmar is long overdue. This
is actually underway and has yielded some positive results.”

Amnesty International discussed the Labour Dispute Settlement Law.
“Not only does the law itself promote and protect the rights of
workers, but the government also consulted international experts in
drafting it. Both law and process have set a constructive precedent,”
it said.

A new media law, once expected for publication this month, is now
anticipated for July, it said.

Amnesty International was told “that Burma’s Press Scrutiny and
Censorship Board has shortened its reach by a considerable degree
since late last year, which marks a definite improvement in the right
to freely receive and disseminate information. All the more
discouraging then, that reform of the media law and other new
legislation has not been more transparent. The worry thus persists
that the new law could simply replace the Censorship Board in
suppressing free speech.”

Ethnic minorities

Amnesty International said it welcomed officials’ pledge to eradicate
forced labour in Burma by 2015, as well as credible reports that the
practice is on a downward trend.

“While there was broad acknowledgement among those we met in Myanmar
that civilians are currently bearing the brunt of ongoing fighting in
northern Shan and Kachin states, there was almost categorical denial
by officials that the Myanmar army is responsible for systematic
violations against civilians,” said AI.

“This is starkly inconsistent with credible information our delegation
received from Kachins who live and work in areas where a 17-year
ceasefire broke down last June,” it said.

With at least 60,000 newly displaced persons, the humanitarian
situation in these areas is also grave, it said. Amnesty International
was told that access to food, especially for children, is the most
pressing concern. As with Burma’s prisons, it said the International
Committee of the Red Cross should be given full and unfettered access
to these areas.

It said ethnic and Muslim minority Rohingyas primarily in northern
Rakhine State have experienced no appreciable improvement in the
realization of their human rights.

“They are still not recognized as citizens and are subject to systemic
discrimination in marriage, travel and employment,” said AI.

The human rights group said official impunity for serious human
rights violations, including past war crimes and crimes against
humanity remains a major problem.

“At various times and in various contexts – such as the 2006-2008
military offensive in Kayin State, documented by Amnesty International
– the Myanmar army has violated the Geneva Conventions of 1949 or
committed human rights violations on a widespread or systematic
basis,” it said.

Furthermore, in non-conflict zones, Burma’s security forces and
government-backed groups have a long and storied history of human
rights abuses, it said. This included the violent suppression of pro-
democracy demonstrations in 1988, resulting in an estimated 3,000
deaths; the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Rohingyas in
1991-1992; the deadly attack on Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade in
Depayin in 2003; and the violent crackdown on 2007’s Saffron
Revolution.

“Amnesty International is not aware of anyone being held accountable
for these and other violations of a similar scale,” it said.

“So long as its independence and impartiality are assured, a domestic
process could be as appropriate as an international mechanism,
including a UN-established Commission of Inquiry, for which Amnesty
International advocated exclusively in 2010 and 2011,” said AI. It
said one member of civil society told its delegation, “It need not be
trials, just some public acknowledgement of what they have done”.
Another, however, was more pointed: “The Burmese people want justice.”

It said the National Human Rights Commission, whose formation last
year was a positive step, is not the appropriate body to take this
forward because it is only empowered to consider complaints relating
to acts which took place after its establishment on September 5, 2011

Economic, social and cultural rights

For many years, discussion of the human rights situation in Burma has
been heavily dominated by civil and political rights, it said. While
challenges certainly remain in that area, AI said more attention and
resources should be afforded to the promotion and protection of
economic, social, and cultural rights in Burma.

“The government has allowed the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria to restart its programmes in Burma; has
raised substantially state pensions for nearly a million people, most
of them poor; and has allowed poor farmers access to micro-credit.
These are very positive steps.”

It noted the government also reduced the export tax on agricultural
products by 80 per cent, thus increasing the price farmers can get for
their goods. Noting more progress, it said in March this year, the
government facilitated greater access to areas facing humanitarian
challenges, including conflict-ridden Kachin State. In addition, in
April it floated the exchange rate for its currency.

“It should further widen the humanitarian space for agencies to work
in conflict zones,” said AI.

As Burma's economy opens up to both domestic entrepreneurs and foreign
investment, AI said it was concerned about the rights of farmers,
fishermen and those who live and work in fast-decreasing forests.

“While two-thirds of Myanmar’s people earn their livelihood in these
areas, two new land laws, for example, reportedly afford very little
protection of their rights. There is no access to the court system,
and customary rights to land are no longer taken into account when
determining land registration and title,” it said.

Similarly, large-scale industrial, extractive, or infrastructure
projects, such as the Dawei industrial port and the Shwe Gas pipeline,
have already yielded credible reports of land-grabbing and forced
evictions—abuses that the government should both prevent and punish,
AI said.

It said Amnesty International is sometimes reminded, “Rome wasn’t
built in a day.”

“To the extent that the only thing less desirable than a lack of legal
reform is legal reform poorly done, this reminder is well-received,”
it said. “Different time frames are clearly warranted for delivering a
prisoner review mechanism, accountability for human rights abuses, and
full realization of social, economic, and cultural rights. Capacity is
limited, and the development of certain “human rights infrastructure”
is advisable before particular changes are made.

“But insofar as prisoners of conscience can be readily identified and
set free, and attacks against civilians can stop in response to clear
orders, it takes less than a day to undertake some important human
rights changes,” said AI. “Myanmar should continue to improve its
human rights record accordingly.”

To download the full document, go to
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA16/003/2012/en/67d698db-0bdb-4ebc-b638-50ba8feac12f/asa160032012en.html
*****************************************************
On-arrival tourist visa for Burma starts Friday
Friday, 01 June 2012 14:27 Mizzima News

Burma’s off and on-again visa on arrival for tourists appears to be on
again.

A Burmese minister was quoted this week saying that the new visa
program would not apply to tourists. But an article in the official
state-run newspaper on Friday said otherwise.

On Friday, June 1, on-arrival visas for businessmen, tourists and
transients will be available at Yangon International Airport, said an
article in the official, state-run The New Light of Myanmar on Friday.

On-arrival visas will be issued at Yangon International Airport for
the “smooth entry” of businessmen and tourists, said the article.

And on-arrival visa will be divided into three categories: a business
visa for US$ 50 for 70 days; a tourist visa for $40 for 28 days, and a
transit visa for $20 lasts for 24 hours.

The new visia program will apply to citizens of Asean-member countries
and China, Indian, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Denmark,
France, Germany, Italy, New Zeland, Norway, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Taiwan, Britain and America; it will be extended at a
later date, officials said.
*****************************************************
DVB News - Suu Kyi calls for ‘urgent’ legal reform in Burma
By AFP
Published: 1 June 2012

Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday urged Burma’s government
to carry out urgent judicial reform to cement recent political
progress and foster clean investment in the country.

Addressing world business leaders in Bangkok in her first
international engagement after more than two decades of isolation, Suu
Kyi said Burma needed the “rule of law” more than legal safeguards for
foreign investors.

“Investors in Burma, please be warned — even the best investment law
would be of no use whatsoever if there is no court clean enough and
independent enough to be able to administer these laws justly,” she
said.

“Good laws already exist in Burma but we do not have a clean and
independent judicial system. Unless we have such a system it is no use
having the best laws in the world.”

Companies are hungrily eyeing resource-rich Burma since political
reforms prompted some international sanctions to be eased.

But in her 15 minute address to the World Economic Forum on East Asia,
Suu Kyi seized the chance to call for an ethical approach from the
assembled foreign business chiefs and Asian political leaders.

Calling for a “healthy scepticism” towards Burma’s creeping reform
under the quasi-civilian government, she decried a lack of change to
the country’s broken legal system and asked delegates to think
“deeply” about what is good for Burma.

“For a moment please don’t think too much of the benefit investment
will bring to investors.

“We don’t want investment to mean further corruption… and greater
inequality.”

Instead she said it was integral to empower civic society and create
jobs to defuse a “time bomb” of high youth unemployment.

Suu Kyi has stolen the show at the Bangkok forum, drawing crowds of
well-wishers and photographers, during her first trip abroad in 24
years.

Having spent 15 of the past 22 years under house arrest, she has taken
an increasingly global role as Burma sheds its pariah status, meeting
top world dignitaries in Rangoon and encouraging easing of Western
economic sanctions.

Analysts say that foreign travel will give Suu Kyi greater access to a
global community eager to see her in person and allow her to meet
ordinary people as well as world leaders.

Reflecting on her trip after decades inside Burma, the pro-democracy
leader said as she flew into Bangkok she was struck by the city’s
illuminated nightscape.

“I had just left a Burma that was suffering electricity cuts… I
thought thirty years ago the scene that met my eyes landing in
Bangkok, would not have been very different from landing in Yangon
[Rangoon].”
After Friday’s speech she attended a forum session on Asian women.

Since arriving in neighbouring Thailand on Tuesday, the pro-democracy
icon has followed a hectic schedule, shuttling between forum meetings
and trips to visit Burmese migrants.

Europe is next on the horizon, where Suu Kyi will address an
International Labour Organization conference in Geneva and give a
speech in Oslo to finally accept the Nobel Prize she was awarded in
1991.
She also intends to travel to Britain, where she lived for years with
her family, and will address parliament in London.
*****************************************************
DVB News - ILO to ease criticisms on Burma forced labour
By HANNA HINDSTROM
Published: 1 June 2012

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is likely to ease its
criticisms against Burma on forced labour, despite fresh reports that
the military continues to target the stateless Rohingya population in
Northern Arakan state with impunity.

A spokesperson from the ILO confirmed to DVB that a special committee
meeting scheduled for Saturday as part of the International Labour
Conference in Geneva is likely to draw positive conclusions.

“In general terms for all parts of the country, we have heard
consistent reports that there has been a general reduction in the use
of forced labour,” said Steve Marshall, head of the ILO office in
Rangoon.

“The committee will probably come to a similar conclusion.”

However, a report by the Arakan Project released yesterday documents
systematic abuses carried out by the Burmese military towards the
Rohingya minority group in Northern Arakan State between November 2011
and May 2012.

The group warns that there has been “little progress” since the
Burmese government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO
in March this year. While a reduction in the use of forced labour has
been seen in certain townships of Northern Arakan state, it is has
been coupled with a rise in arbitrary taxes and increased exploitation
in other areas.

“Villagers continue to receive regular orders to work on road
construction, in NaSaKa (border security forces) and Army camps, as
sentries and porters, without remuneration and facing penalties if
they do not comply, as in past years,” warned the report.

“We have never received any wages, not even a cup of tea, from the
Army or the NaSaKa for all the work we do for them year after year.
Instead, we are insulted and harassed if we do not work properly,” a
21-year-old Rohingya farm labourer from Buthidaung Township told the
Arakan Project.

The ILO’s assessment of Burma is seen as a crucial indicator for the
reduction of further international sanctions. In 2000, the ILO
instigated unprecedented punitive measures against the military
regime, including urging member states to review their diplomatic
relations with the country.

“In Northern Rakhine state at least, Myanmar [Burma] has yet to take
concrete steps to effectively implement two key recommendations of the
1998 ILO Commission of Inquiry – eradicate the practice and prosecute
perpetrators – and to translate formal commitments into action on the
ground in all regions of the country,” said Chris Lewa, Director of
The Arakan Project. “It would therefore be premature for the ILO to
lift the measures adopted in 2000.”

The Rohingya minority in Burma are seen as particularly vulnerable to
exploitation because of their stateless status. Considered “illegal
Bengali migrants” by the government, they cannot travel freely within
Arakan state and are excluded from basic social rights, including
health and education.

However, Marshall insists that positive changes have also been seen in
this region. “[We have] received information from NRS [Northern Arakan
state] that they were in the same category [as the rest of Burma].
[The problem] was not resolved by any means, but there was an
improvement. Clearly where there are areas of concern they need to be
targeted.”

In March, the Burmese military committed to prosecuting military
personnel guilty of using forced labour under the state penal code.
According to the ILO, 166 military personnel are currently being
prosecuted and five convictions have already been handed down.

A fact finding mission in early May, led by ILO Chairperson of the
Governing Body Greg Vines, concluded that despite improvements, “many
challenges” remained, including the continued incarceration of ten
labour activists and an absence of “genuine, bottom-up people’s
participation” and rule of law.

Rights campaigners have been quick to observe that the elimination of
forced labour could take decades, especially in conflict affected
territories such as Kachin state, where abuses by the Burmese army are
reported as widespread.

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is due to address the ILO conference
in Geneva on 14 June as part of her first tour abroad since being
detained by the junta in 1989.
*****************************************************
DVB News - Suu Kyi demands better rights for Burmese migrants
By DVB
Published: 1 June 2012

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has called for better rights and
protection of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand at a meeting with
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung in Bangkok yesterday.

In an hour long meeting, she pressed Thailand to allow Burmese migrant
children to enrol in Thai schools in a bid to improve relations
between the two countries.

Yubamrung insisted that Burmese migrant labour is crucial to
Thailand’s economy, but asked that the Burmese government provide
assistance with the National Verification Process (NVP) – a step
required by Thai law to grant migrants legal status to stay and work
in Thailand. Around 800,000 Burmese migrants have already passed the
NVP, he said, adding that a 300 baht (USD 9.41) daily minimum wage for
all registered workers will take effect in June.

The scheme has however courted criticism from human rights groups, who
warn that it could make Burmese migrants, especially the stateless
Rohingya, even more vulnerable to abuse. A deportation threat
currently looms for migrants who fail to register by 14 June.

Migrants in Thailand make up about five percent of the county’s
workforce, and provide a crucial pool of labour for low-skilled, often
dangerous, industries such as fishing and construction. Up to three
million people, or about 80 percent of the migrant population, are
estimated to come from Burma. Many occupy a quasi-legal existence in
the Kingdom that creates problems when attempting to access
healthcare, accident compensation and legal assistance.

Migrant’s rights have been high on Suu Kyi’s agenda during her first
trip abroad in 24 years. The democracy icon spent her first day
addressing a crowd of migrants in Mahachai, home to some 300,000
Burmese. “We have to protect, not only the Burmese migrants’ rights
but also every worker’s rights, at our best within the boundaries of
the law,” Suu Kyi said. ”Let me tell you that we will never forget
you. We will address your concerns.”

As promised Suu Kyi presented many of the complaints raised by the
Burmese migrant community, including work place abuse, marginalisation
and employer exploitation, to Yubamrung, who insisted that many of
these issues had already been addressed.

Suu Kyi also urged the Thai government to help facilitate third
country resettlement for some of the 150,000 Burmese refugees living
on the border region, though insisting it must be on a strictly
voluntary basis.

A number of groups along the border have expressed concern about the
possibility of forced eviction or repatriation ahead of Suu Kyi’s
scheduled visit to Mae La refugee camp on Saturday.

The camp’s chairman, Saw Htun Htun, told DVB that it was not yet safe
for them to return home. “We do want to go home of course but we don’t
think the reforms taking place in Burma can provide a safe enough
environment for us yet. So we will raise this with Daw Suu.”

This view was supported by the Karen National Union (KNU). General
Secretary Naw Zipporah Sein said: “We would like to address [Suu Kyi]
about the refugee situation. The KNU does not think it now is time yet
to repatriate the refugees since we are still engaged in the talks and
the political issues have not been address yet.”
*****************************************************
DVB News - Suu Kyi demands better rights for Burmese migrants
By DVB
Published: 1 June 2012

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has called for better rights and
protection of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand at a meeting with
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung in Bangkok yesterday.

In an hour long meeting, she pressed Thailand to allow Burmese migrant
children to enrol in Thai schools in a bid to improve relations
between the two countries.

Yubamrung insisted that Burmese migrant labour is crucial to
Thailand’s economy, but asked that the Burmese government provide
assistance with the National Verification Process (NVP) – a step
required by Thai law to grant migrants legal status to stay and work
in Thailand. Around 800,000 Burmese migrants have already passed the
NVP, he said, adding that a 300 baht (USD 9.41) daily minimum wage for
all registered workers will take effect in June.

The scheme has however courted criticism from human rights groups, who
warn that it could make Burmese migrants, especially the stateless
Rohingya, even more vulnerable to abuse. A deportation threat
currently looms for migrants who fail to register by 14 June.

Migrants in Thailand make up about five percent of the county’s
workforce, and provide a crucial pool of labour for low-skilled, often
dangerous, industries such as fishing and construction. Up to three
million people, or about 80 percent of the migrant population, are
estimated to come from Burma. Many occupy a quasi-legal existence in
the Kingdom that creates problems when attempting to access
healthcare, accident compensation and legal assistance.

Migrant’s rights have been high on Suu Kyi’s agenda during her first
trip abroad in 24 years. The democracy icon spent her first day
addressing a crowd of migrants in Mahachai, home to some 300,000
Burmese. “We have to protect, not only the Burmese migrants’ rights
but also every worker’s rights, at our best within the boundaries of
the law,” Suu Kyi said. ”Let me tell you that we will never forget
you. We will address your concerns.”

As promised Suu Kyi presented many of the complaints raised by the
Burmese migrant community, including work place abuse, marginalisation
and employer exploitation, to Yubamrung, who insisted that many of
these issues had already been addressed.

Suu Kyi also urged the Thai government to help facilitate third
country resettlement for some of the 150,000 Burmese refugees living
on the border region, though insisting it must be on a strictly
voluntary basis.

A number of groups along the border have expressed concern about the
possibility of forced eviction or repatriation ahead of Suu Kyi’s
scheduled visit to Mae La refugee camp on Saturday.

The camp’s chairman, Saw Htun Htun, told DVB that it was not yet safe
for them to return home. “We do want to go home of course but we don’t
think the reforms taking place in Burma can provide a safe enough
environment for us yet. So we will raise this with Daw Suu.”

This view was supported by the Karen National Union (KNU). General
Secretary Naw Zipporah Sein said: “We would like to address [Suu Kyi]
about the refugee situation. The KNU does not think it now is time yet
to repatriate the refugees since we are still engaged in the talks and
the political issues have not been address yet.”
*****************************************************
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Relevant Pages Burma Related News - Aug 19, 2011. ... New York Times - Aung San Suu Kyi Meets With Myanmar President ... Council on Foreign Relations - Signs of Change in Burma? ... (soc.culture.burma) Burma Related News - Dec 19-20, 2010. ... Brisbane Times - Former Bond star takes on the life of Aung San Suu ... Myanmar to act against terrorists ... The Nation - Many affected by border dIsputes wIth Burma ... Straight talk from Aung San Suu Kyi ... (soc.culture.burma) Burma Related News - July 23, 2011. ... CP - Canada begins engagement with Myanmar, but rules out early end to ... IANS - India invites Myanmar's Suu Kyi ... Asian Correspondent - AIPMC urges ASEAN to review Burma issue ... (soc.culture.burma) Burma Related News - July 31, 2009. ... The Sydney Morning Herald - Burma’s nuclear secrets ... AP - Myanmar court delays Suu Kyi verdict until Aug. 11 ... Business Mirror - Reject Burma fuel exports, ... (soc.culture.burma) Related News of Burma - Sep 08-09, 2012. ... AP - Myanmar invites member of legendary 30 Comrades group home from exile in China ... The Irrawaddy - Indonesia Spurns Investment in Burma over Rohingya Crisis ... As part of her visit Suu Kyi, who was elected to parliament this year in a dramatic sign of Myanmar's reforms, will travel to Washington to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. ... Thein Sein is expected to head to the United States during a UN summit, at roughly the same time as Suu Kyi. ... (soc.culture.burma)

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newsgroups.derkeiler.com  > Archive  > Soc  > soc.culture.burma  > 2012-06