Singapore banks reject Myanmar junta cash report
Fri Sep 11, 3:25 am ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) – Two Singapore banks have rejected a report by a US-based rights group that said Myanmar's ruling junta deposited billions of dollars with them.
DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) said in separate statements late Thursday that there was no truth in the report by EarthRights International (ERI).
"ERI's report is categorically untrue and without basis," a DBS spokesperson said in the brief statement.
A spokesperson from OCBC also rejected the report.
EarthRights International had said in a report released Thursday that energy giants Total and Chevron were propping up the Myanmar military regime with a gas project that allowed the junta to stash almost five billion US dollars in the two Singaporean banks.
The report said the junta had kept the revenues earned from the project off the national budget and stashed almost all of the money offshore with DBS and OCBC.
"Total and Chevron's Yadana gas project has generated 4.83 billion dollars for the Burmese regime," one of the reports said, adding that the figures for the period 2000-2008 were the first ever detailed account of the revenues.
"The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the peoples' revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia," said Matthew Smith, a principal author of the report.
French energy giant Total has also rejected the report, saying the document was riddled with errors and false interpretations.
Fri Sep 11, 3:25 am ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) – Two Singapore banks have rejected a report by a US-based rights group that said Myanmar's ruling junta deposited billions of dollars with them.
DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) said in separate statements late Thursday that there was no truth in the report by EarthRights International (ERI).
"ERI's report is categorically untrue and without basis," a DBS spokesperson said in the brief statement.
A spokesperson from OCBC also rejected the report.
EarthRights International had said in a report released Thursday that energy giants Total and Chevron were propping up the Myanmar military regime with a gas project that allowed the junta to stash almost five billion US dollars in the two Singaporean banks.
The report said the junta had kept the revenues earned from the project off the national budget and stashed almost all of the money offshore with DBS and OCBC.
"Total and Chevron's Yadana gas project has generated 4.83 billion dollars for the Burmese regime," one of the reports said, adding that the figures for the period 2000-2008 were the first ever detailed account of the revenues.
"The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the peoples' revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia," said Matthew Smith, a principal author of the report.
French energy giant Total has also rejected the report, saying the document was riddled with errors and false interpretations.
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Porn, fireworks, diamonds made with child labor: US
Thu Sep 10, 8:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Children are used to produce everything from pornography in Ukraine to fireworks in the Philippines and diamonds in Sierra Leone, the US Department of Labor said in a report.
The report, published on Thursday, lists 122 goods "produced with forced labor, child labor, or both, in 58 countries" from Afghanistan to North Korea to Uzbekistan.
"Agricultural crops comprise the largest category, followed by manufactured goods and mined or quarried goods," said the report, which was mandated by Congress in 2005, when lawmakers passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
Child labor was more common than forced labor, and the goods most often produced by children were cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, coffee, rice, and cocoa in agriculture; bricks, garments, carpets, and footwear in manufacturing; and gold and coal in mined or quarried goods.
Strawberries from Argentina, footwear from Bangladesh, gold and silver from Bolivia, and rubber from Cambodia were brought to international markets with the work of child labor.
Myanmar, which is listed in the report as Burma, used child and forced labor to produce 14 products, ranging from jade to teak wood.
In India, children worked on glass bangles, leather goods and soccer balls; in Pakistan, they are used to make carpets.
And in Russia and Ukraine, the Philippines and Thailand, they were used in the production of pornography.
"The International Labor Organization estimates that over 12 million persons worldwide are working in some form of forced labor or bondage and that more than 200 million children are at work, many in hazardous forms of labor," the report said.
The global economic crisis has "exacerbated the vulnerability" of the most easily exploited workers, including children, women and migrants, it added.
The list was the first of its kind to be published by the US Labor Department.
The main purpose of the list was to raise public awareness about child labor and forced labor and to provide companies and individual consumers with reliable information about the conditions under which goods are produced.
"Most Americans and most consumers in the world market would not choose to purchase goods known to be produced by exploited children or forced laborers at any price," US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in a foreword to the report.
"Likewise, most American companies would prefer that their global suppliers respect workers' and children's fundamental rights and provide their employees with working conditions that meet acceptable local standards," she said.
The list was a tool that would help them to translate these values and preferences into day-to-day purchasing decisions, she said.
The investigators who compiled the list did not look for cases of forced or child labor in the United States, although Solis acknowledged that "we face these problems in our own country."
Thu Sep 10, 8:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Children are used to produce everything from pornography in Ukraine to fireworks in the Philippines and diamonds in Sierra Leone, the US Department of Labor said in a report.
The report, published on Thursday, lists 122 goods "produced with forced labor, child labor, or both, in 58 countries" from Afghanistan to North Korea to Uzbekistan.
"Agricultural crops comprise the largest category, followed by manufactured goods and mined or quarried goods," said the report, which was mandated by Congress in 2005, when lawmakers passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
Child labor was more common than forced labor, and the goods most often produced by children were cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, coffee, rice, and cocoa in agriculture; bricks, garments, carpets, and footwear in manufacturing; and gold and coal in mined or quarried goods.
Strawberries from Argentina, footwear from Bangladesh, gold and silver from Bolivia, and rubber from Cambodia were brought to international markets with the work of child labor.
Myanmar, which is listed in the report as Burma, used child and forced labor to produce 14 products, ranging from jade to teak wood.
In India, children worked on glass bangles, leather goods and soccer balls; in Pakistan, they are used to make carpets.
And in Russia and Ukraine, the Philippines and Thailand, they were used in the production of pornography.
"The International Labor Organization estimates that over 12 million persons worldwide are working in some form of forced labor or bondage and that more than 200 million children are at work, many in hazardous forms of labor," the report said.
The global economic crisis has "exacerbated the vulnerability" of the most easily exploited workers, including children, women and migrants, it added.
The list was the first of its kind to be published by the US Labor Department.
The main purpose of the list was to raise public awareness about child labor and forced labor and to provide companies and individual consumers with reliable information about the conditions under which goods are produced.
"Most Americans and most consumers in the world market would not choose to purchase goods known to be produced by exploited children or forced laborers at any price," US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in a foreword to the report.
"Likewise, most American companies would prefer that their global suppliers respect workers' and children's fundamental rights and provide their employees with working conditions that meet acceptable local standards," she said.
The list was a tool that would help them to translate these values and preferences into day-to-day purchasing decisions, she said.
The investigators who compiled the list did not look for cases of forced or child labor in the United States, although Solis acknowledged that "we face these problems in our own country."
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Total says won't quit Myanmar after NGO accusation
Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:21pm IST
PARIS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - French energy major Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) will not leave Myanmar, its head told a French daily, after a U.S. environmental group accused it of supporting the country's military junta with revenue from its gas operations.
The report by Earth Rights International (ERI) said the Yadana gas project, which also involves Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) of the U.S. and Thailand's PTTEP PTTE.BK, had generated $4.83 billion for the regime since 2000, nearly all of which was siphoned off from the national budget and into offshore bank accounts in Singapore.
Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:21pm IST
PARIS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - French energy major Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) will not leave Myanmar, its head told a French daily, after a U.S. environmental group accused it of supporting the country's military junta with revenue from its gas operations.
The report by Earth Rights International (ERI) said the Yadana gas project, which also involves Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) of the U.S. and Thailand's PTTEP PTTE.BK, had generated $4.83 billion for the regime since 2000, nearly all of which was siphoned off from the national budget and into offshore bank accounts in Singapore.
"The mission of Total is not to restore democracy in the world," Total Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie told Le Parisien in an interview published on Friday.
"I repeat, leaving will not make human rights more respected ... If this gas was not produced by Total, it would be by others, and it would change nothing to the revenues of the junta."
Margerie also said Myanmar opposition leader and Peace Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past 20 years in detention by the junta, had not asked Total to go.
"She never asked me to leave Myanmar. Never!" he said.
Despite a broad range of sanctions placed on Myanmar by the U.S. and European Union because of political repression, its vast reserves of natural gas have been a financial lifeline for the regime.
In November 2005 Total agreed to pay compensation to eight Myanmar citizens who accused the group of forced labour.
Contacted by Reuters on Friday, a Total spokesman did not wish to comment further on the interview.
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Webb plans to hold hearing on Myanmar
Published: Sept. 10, 2009 at 4:57 PM
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who just returned from a two-week trip to Southeast Asia, says he plans to hold a hearing on U.S. relations with Myanmar.
Webb, who also visited Vietnam and Thailand, was the first member of the U.S. Congress to travel to the country formerly known as Burma in a decade and the first U.S. official ever to meet Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the country's leader. He also met Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has been under house arrest almost continuously for years, and was able to secure the release of Jon Yettaw, a U.S. citizen convicted of illegally visiting Suu Kyi.
The senator is chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The hearing will focus on the effect of U.S. economic sanctions against Burma, which have not been matched by other countries, a statement from Webb's office says. Webb also wants to look at possible new direction for U.S. policy toward Myanmar that could be more effective in bringing democratic change.
Published: Sept. 10, 2009 at 4:57 PM
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who just returned from a two-week trip to Southeast Asia, says he plans to hold a hearing on U.S. relations with Myanmar.
Webb, who also visited Vietnam and Thailand, was the first member of the U.S. Congress to travel to the country formerly known as Burma in a decade and the first U.S. official ever to meet Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the country's leader. He also met Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has been under house arrest almost continuously for years, and was able to secure the release of Jon Yettaw, a U.S. citizen convicted of illegally visiting Suu Kyi.
The senator is chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The hearing will focus on the effect of U.S. economic sanctions against Burma, which have not been matched by other countries, a statement from Webb's office says. Webb also wants to look at possible new direction for U.S. policy toward Myanmar that could be more effective in bringing democratic change.
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EarthTimes - Oil giant Total's presence in Myanmar is 'positive': CEO
Posted : Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:11:24 GMT
Paris - The head of French oil giant Total defended his company against charges it was supporting the junta in Myanmar, claiming instead that the firm's presence in the country was "positive.""I believe... that what we do (in Myanmar) is positive for a part of the population," Christophe de Margerie said in an interview published Friday in the daily Le Parisien.
"The fatal argument is to say that the money from the gas profits the junta," he added. "But if the gas is not produced by Total, it would be produced by others, and that would change nothing regarding the revenues for the junta."
Margerie was responding to a report published Thursday by the human rights group EarthRights International (ERI) alleging that Myanmar's ruling junta is hiding billions of dollars in revenue in natural gas sales from the Yadana gas pipeline, which was built by Total and the American oil firm Chevron.
"Total's mission is not to restore democracy in the world. That is not our profession," Margerie said in the interview with readers of the daily. He also said that Total had no plans to leave Myanmar.
But ERI did not call on Total and Chevron to divest from Myanmar, but to publish all their payments to the country's authorities since 1992, when the contract was signed.
Margerie did not respond to that demand. Nor did he address another demand by ERI, to acknowledge that forced labour was used with the pipeline, which passes from the Andaman Sea over 65 kilometers of Myanmar into Thailand.
He claimed, however, that Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi prefers to work with Total rather than other oil companies.
"She never demanded that we leave (Myanmar)," he said.
Posted : Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:11:24 GMT
Paris - The head of French oil giant Total defended his company against charges it was supporting the junta in Myanmar, claiming instead that the firm's presence in the country was "positive.""I believe... that what we do (in Myanmar) is positive for a part of the population," Christophe de Margerie said in an interview published Friday in the daily Le Parisien.
"The fatal argument is to say that the money from the gas profits the junta," he added. "But if the gas is not produced by Total, it would be produced by others, and that would change nothing regarding the revenues for the junta."
Margerie was responding to a report published Thursday by the human rights group EarthRights International (ERI) alleging that Myanmar's ruling junta is hiding billions of dollars in revenue in natural gas sales from the Yadana gas pipeline, which was built by Total and the American oil firm Chevron.
"Total's mission is not to restore democracy in the world. That is not our profession," Margerie said in the interview with readers of the daily. He also said that Total had no plans to leave Myanmar.
But ERI did not call on Total and Chevron to divest from Myanmar, but to publish all their payments to the country's authorities since 1992, when the contract was signed.
Margerie did not respond to that demand. Nor did he address another demand by ERI, to acknowledge that forced labour was used with the pipeline, which passes from the Andaman Sea over 65 kilometers of Myanmar into Thailand.
He claimed, however, that Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi prefers to work with Total rather than other oil companies.
"She never demanded that we leave (Myanmar)," he said.
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Friday September 11, 2009
The Star Online - Burglar enters Myanmar women’s dormitory but fails to rape them
By LOH FOON FONG
KUALA LUMPUR: Seven Myanmar women factory workers were spared the ordeal of rape when a parang-wielding intruder broke into their hostel but could not get an erection.
The man entered the hostel at 2am when the women were fast asleep.
He woke them up before robbing them of their mobile phones and jewellery.
The women, who were all in their 20s, were later ordered to strip but his attempt to rape them was unsuccessful and he left soon after.
Terrified by the incident, the workers refused to continue living in the hostel in Taman Putri Wangsa in Johor Baru.
Myanmar embassy counsellor Ei Ei Tin said the embassy would provide temporary shelter for the women but it wanted the police to arrest the culprit.
“He has not been caught. He had a parang and ordered all of the women to surrender their money and to strip,” she told The Star.
The counsellor said the embassy was writing a letter to the Human Resources Ministry to look into the plight of Myanmar workers in Malaysia.
“We also want the workers to have a safe place and not have 30 people live in one dormitory,” she said.
The seven women who reported the case to the embassy had to live with more than 20 others in another dormitory and this caused a lot of discomfort and could pose a health risk, she said.
Tin urged the agents for foreign workers from Myanmar and their Malaysian counterparts to adhere to the laws in their treatment of workers.
There are 13,0731 registered Myanmar workers in the services, manufacturing and plantation sectors in the country.
The Star Online - Burglar enters Myanmar women’s dormitory but fails to rape them
By LOH FOON FONG
KUALA LUMPUR: Seven Myanmar women factory workers were spared the ordeal of rape when a parang-wielding intruder broke into their hostel but could not get an erection.
The man entered the hostel at 2am when the women were fast asleep.
He woke them up before robbing them of their mobile phones and jewellery.
The women, who were all in their 20s, were later ordered to strip but his attempt to rape them was unsuccessful and he left soon after.
Terrified by the incident, the workers refused to continue living in the hostel in Taman Putri Wangsa in Johor Baru.
Myanmar embassy counsellor Ei Ei Tin said the embassy would provide temporary shelter for the women but it wanted the police to arrest the culprit.
“He has not been caught. He had a parang and ordered all of the women to surrender their money and to strip,” she told The Star.
The counsellor said the embassy was writing a letter to the Human Resources Ministry to look into the plight of Myanmar workers in Malaysia.
“We also want the workers to have a safe place and not have 30 people live in one dormitory,” she said.
The seven women who reported the case to the embassy had to live with more than 20 others in another dormitory and this caused a lot of discomfort and could pose a health risk, she said.
Tin urged the agents for foreign workers from Myanmar and their Malaysian counterparts to adhere to the laws in their treatment of workers.
There are 13,0731 registered Myanmar workers in the services, manufacturing and plantation sectors in the country.
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Hindustan Times - India takes up with Myanmar reports of China 'base' in Coco islands
Press Trust Of India
Kolkata, September 10, 2009
Last Updated: 20:48 IST(10/9/2009)
India has taken up with Myanmar reports of China having a maritime 'base' in the strategic Coco islands near the Andamans islands but was told there is no movement of the Chinese Navy in the area, a top Naval officer said on Thursday.
The officer also said the Navy had no report of any Chinese presence in the Indian waters near the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
"There is no report of any Chinese movement in our waters in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Anup Singh said when asked about reports of Chinese incursion into Indian waters.
On reports of Chinese presence in the Coco Islands near the Andamans, Singh said India had taken up the issue with Myanmar which has jurisdiction over the island, but the latter had denied the report.
"We have had a dialogue with the Myanmar government which has clarified there is no Chinese presence in Coco islands," he added.
Coco Islands are a pair of strategically important islands located in the eastern Indian Ocean, politically administered by Myanmar under Yangon Division. Geographically, they are a part of the Andaman Islands archipelago and separated from the North Andaman Island (India) by the 20-km wide Coco Channel.
Singh, who was talking to newsmen after the commissioning ceremony of two Water Jet propelled Fast Attack Craft, said fishing trawlers from neighbouring countries occasionally forayed into the Indian waters but they were intercepted by the Coast Guards.
Press Trust Of India
Kolkata, September 10, 2009
Last Updated: 20:48 IST(10/9/2009)
India has taken up with Myanmar reports of China having a maritime 'base' in the strategic Coco islands near the Andamans islands but was told there is no movement of the Chinese Navy in the area, a top Naval officer said on Thursday.
The officer also said the Navy had no report of any Chinese presence in the Indian waters near the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
"There is no report of any Chinese movement in our waters in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Anup Singh said when asked about reports of Chinese incursion into Indian waters.
On reports of Chinese presence in the Coco Islands near the Andamans, Singh said India had taken up the issue with Myanmar which has jurisdiction over the island, but the latter had denied the report.
"We have had a dialogue with the Myanmar government which has clarified there is no Chinese presence in Coco islands," he added.
Coco Islands are a pair of strategically important islands located in the eastern Indian Ocean, politically administered by Myanmar under Yangon Division. Geographically, they are a part of the Andaman Islands archipelago and separated from the North Andaman Island (India) by the 20-km wide Coco Channel.
Singh, who was talking to newsmen after the commissioning ceremony of two Water Jet propelled Fast Attack Craft, said fishing trawlers from neighbouring countries occasionally forayed into the Indian waters but they were intercepted by the Coast Guards.
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ReliefWeb - World Food Programme is set to resume work in restive Myanmar-China border area
Source: United Nations Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General (OSSG)
Date: 10 Sep 2009
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Responding to an earlier question, the Spokeswoman said that the World Food Programme did suspend operations in the area on 25 August, in view of the growing insecurity in the region, and brought staff back from deep field positions to Laukkai temporarily.
After fighting escalated in the vicinity of the town of Laukkai, WFP requested safe passage out for its staff to Lashio. This was not possible for a period of four days, because of fighting in and around the three roads in and out of Laukkai.
It is not correct to suggest they were kept there so as not to report on what was going on; in fact, WFP had continual updates on developments from the team throughout the fighting. WFP now has a new team on the ground and are in the process of re-starting its activities along with its NGO partners. The situation remains stable and normal economic activity is returning to the town.
Source: United Nations Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General (OSSG)
Date: 10 Sep 2009
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Responding to an earlier question, the Spokeswoman said that the World Food Programme did suspend operations in the area on 25 August, in view of the growing insecurity in the region, and brought staff back from deep field positions to Laukkai temporarily.
After fighting escalated in the vicinity of the town of Laukkai, WFP requested safe passage out for its staff to Lashio. This was not possible for a period of four days, because of fighting in and around the three roads in and out of Laukkai.
It is not correct to suggest they were kept there so as not to report on what was going on; in fact, WFP had continual updates on developments from the team throughout the fighting. WFP now has a new team on the ground and are in the process of re-starting its activities along with its NGO partners. The situation remains stable and normal economic activity is returning to the town.
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The Time - Inside Burma's War
By Hannah Beech / Laiza
By Hannah Beech / Laiza
Monday, Sep. 21, 2009
Duct tape holds together his Chinese-made assault rifle, and the mosquito net in his rucksack gapes with so many holes that it practically invites dengue- and malaria-carrying insects to feast on his body. Felix has never fought in the jungles of northeastern Burma, where a rebel army is preparing for war with one of Asia's largest militaries. With no heavy artillery and little more than flip-flops and used flashlights to give their recruits, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) can only depend on guerrilla tactics to deter soldiers of the Burmese military regime. The 24-year-old cadet at the KIA's military academy, deep in the monsoon-drenched hills of Kachin state, juts his chin out, blinks back tears and announces he is ready for deployment. "I am shaking very hard inside," he tells me, his voice trembling. "But I have a responsibility to complete my mission."
Felix was promoted to active duty last month, when tensions reached fever pitch between Burma's ruling junta and various armed ethnic groups in the country's northern borderlands. In late August, the military regime unexpectedly overran the army of the nearby Kokang minority, sending some 30,000 refugees spilling into neighboring China.
Now other ethnic militias who control various jigsaw-puzzle pieces of northeastern Burma — the Kachin, the Wa, the Eastern Shan — are reinforcing their ragged armies and playing a terrifying guessing game: Who's next on the junta's hit list?
Two decades after Burma's army dictatorship reached an uneasy peace with a patchwork of ethnic militias, the country is again poised on the brink of civil war. The junta has long maintained a tense relationship with the up to 40% of the country's population that is composed of ethnic minorities. When Burma won independence from the British in 1948, political groups representing some of the country's 130-plus ethnicities agreed to join the union in exchange for autonomy. But uprisings quickly proliferated in the country's vast frontier, only worsening after the military regime wrested control of the country in 1962 and began limiting ethnic freedoms. Beginning in 1989, cease-fires were signed with 17 rebel militias, and certain ethnicities were granted a measure of self-rule. The junta claimed victory for having united one of the world's most diverse countries — and promptly began mining the natural resources that abounded in tribal regions.
With nationwide elections slated for next year, Burma's ethnic minorities may soon lose what little sovereignty they have left. The junta claims the polls are the final step in creating what it calls a "discipline-flourishing democracy," after it ignored the results of the last elections back in 1990. International human-rights groups, however, decry the process as little more than a choreographed exercise designed to legitimize the junta and stamp out any threats to its power. In April, the Burmese government informed the cease-fire groups that as part of the electoral run-up they would have to refashion their armies as part of a centrally controlled border guard force, the first step in what many fear will be the death knell to ethnic autonomy. The deadline to accede to the regime's demand is October. Most ethnic groups have already responded with a firm no — among them the Kachin and the Kokang, whose two-decade cease-fire with the Burmese abruptly ended last month when junta forces invaded its tiny territory. The ease with which the Kokang were defeated presumably buoyed the junta, many of whose members gained their battlefield experience against ethnic militias. "Everyone in the West talks about democracy and [Nobel Peace Prize laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi," says Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military expert and former communist rebel living in exile in China's Yunnan province. "But the junta's biggest enemy is not her. It is the ethnics."
The renewed threat of civil war in Burma isn't just an internal problem. The country's minorities are concentrated in its borderlands, and in recent weeks, as the junta has surged into rebel territory, tens of thousands of ethnic refugees have poured into Thailand and China.
Beyond the international humanitarian crisis also lies a potential economic one. Neighboring nations are increasingly dependent on Burma's resources, and most of the country's natural wealth — from jade and timber to hydropower and natural gas — is concentrated in the tribal regions. The planned route for a Chinese-financed project of dual natural-gas and oil pipelines, for instance, begins in an ethnically troubled part of western Burma's Arakan state and runs past the part of Shan state where fighting raged last month in Kokang. Construction of the Shwe pipeline project, the biggest ever foreign investment commitment to Burma, was supposed to begin this month, but ethnic skirmishes may imperil that schedule. Reports are also trickling in from Kachin state, where dam projects funded by foreign investors are suspending operations because of potential violence. Little wonder that Beijing, which usually shields Burma from any formal criticism by the U.N., publicly condemned the Kokang assault, warning that the junta should "properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the ... border region."
Law of the Jungle
To get to the KIA's mountainous stronghold of Laiza, I first traveled deep into China's southwestern Yunnan province, to a small trading settlement called Nabang. Even though the border town is in China, many of its residents wore Burmese longyis, or sarongs, and women's faces were painted beige with the thanaka paste used in Burma as a skin salve. Despite the occasional truck rumbling past overloaded with teak logs from Burma, Nabang felt like it was just emerging from an opium-induced nap.
But a quick splash across a few bamboo planks strewn across a river and I entered another world. Laiza was very much awake, a hair-trigger atmosphere only heightened by the fact that practically every teenaged boy appeared to have a machine gun slung over his shoulder. Soldiers from the KIA's mobile brigade materialized from the sub-tropical canopy, stealthy as the tigers that prowl Kachin state. As my jeep climbed up a mountain path, I passed teenagers with the hardened gazes of men trudging toward a military-recruiting office. The number of youth who have volunteered to enlist has skyrocketed, as the drumbeat of war with Burma's junta escalates.
Many of these youngsters fit Hollywood casting for Southeast Asian guerrillas: scrawny, scrappy adolescents who show no sign of needing a shave anytime soon. But Felix, who sidled up to me as I watched the KIA academy cadets run through their drills, disturbed the easy image of a militia conscripting hungry boys in return for a fistful of rice.
Armed with a university degree in international relations, Felix speaks fluent English and expresses himself eloquently on political philosophy. But as an ethnic Kachin — an ethnicity more than 1 million strong, famed for its fortitude while serving on the Allied side in World War II — Felix knows his chances of succeeding in junta-controlled Burma are as slender as the jungle vines KIA soldiers sometimes eat to survive. So he has joined other disillusioned university graduates among the KIA ranks. "Some people say we must have dialogue with the SPDC," he says, referring to the junta by its Orwellian-sounding moniker, the State Peace and Development Council. "But that is a snail's pace. The only thing the SPDC understands is force, so we must meet their force with ours."
Ethnic Tinderbox
Although the Burmese majority faces plenty of repression, there's no question that the junta reserves its worst brutality for ethnic groups. International human-rights organizations have documented a wide array of abuses against minorities, ranging from forced labor and army conscription to mass rape and village relocations that have displaced 500,000 people in eastern Burma alone. Complicating matters, some ethnic groups are not Buddhist in a country where the junta celebrates that faith and often persecutes those who do not. (The Kachin, Chin and many Karen, for example, are Christian.) Career trajectories for many ethnic minorities are stunted. Despite their proud martial tradition, Kachin know it's nearly impossible to rise in the Burmese army beyond the junior rank of captain.
In recent months, the decades of persistent discrimination have spawned an unusual alliance between four armed ethnic groups: the KIA, the United Wa State Army, the Eastern Shan State Army (also known as the Mongla army) and the Kokang Army. The junta's lightning strike on the Kokang capital Laogai, which is estimated to have caused some 200 civilian casualties, left the other alliance members ill-equipped to respond immediately. But exile groups in China and Thailand are reporting that the Wa — which, with some 25,000 foot soldiers and an arsenal of heavy artillery, is the strongest of the rebel armies — is providing support to the shreds of Kokang forces still fighting, as well as giving sanctuary to Kokang leader Peng Jiasheng. With the junta reinforcing troop levels in the country's north, another ethnic militia, the Karen National Liberation Army in eastern Burma, hopes to recuperate after a devastating series of losses earlier this summer.
Cohesion among the ethnic groups, which spent considerable time fighting one another as well as the junta, could change the nature of battle in Burma. At the KIA's self-styled Pentagon, a collection of simple concrete buildings on a breezy hilltop, members of other ethnic groups have come to be schooled in military tactics from one of the most tenacious rebel militias. One youth leader from the western state of Arakan spoke to me in smooth, American-inflected English. "I need to do something practical," he said. "I need to prepare for war. Politics in this country is crap. It's just a way for the SPDC to stay in power."
The Politics of Money
As they face the possibility of renewed conflict, leaders of some of the ethnic militias aren't just looking out for their downtrodden populaces. They're also protecting their own interests in a region that, after all, extends into the infamous Golden Triangle. Starved of other economic means, some rebel armies have resorted to dubious funding schemes, like selling opium, illegal timber and methamphetamines. During the ceasefire period, the junta largely turned a blind eye to such businesses, which financed spacious villas and golf courses for some ethnic commanders.
When U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma in 2007, one of the people he met was Kokang honcho Peng, who was trotted out to represent the junta's amity with ethnic groups. But this summer, Peng publicly rejected the idea of turning his army into a border force. By early August, the junta was accusing Peng of being behind an illegal arms-and-drugs factory. The illicit activity, claimed the regime, compelled it to invade Kokang turf, even though the warlord's business proclivities had been an open secret for years. Indeed, both the Eastern Shan and Wa are also believed to have financed themselves through such shady means; the latter's southern commander, Wei Hsueh-kang, has been singled out by the U.S. Treasury Department as a major drug trafficker. Indeed, one battle-avoiding option for the junta is luring corrupt ethnic elders to its side. "Divide-and-conquer tactics are the SPDC's best friend," says KIA Brigadier General Gun Maw.
The complicated ethnic landscape puts Burma's giant neighbor, China, in a bind. Over the past few years, tens of thousands of Chinese businesspeople have fanned across Burma, setting up trading companies and filling downtowns with signs in Chinese characters. Much of the recent Chinese influx is in ethnic areas, where rebel groups have also come to rely on Chinese-made arms to continue their struggle against the junta. (The Chinese, however, are an equal-opportunity weapons dealer, supplying the junta with much of its military hardware.)
With the possibility of war breaking out along its long border with Burma, China is finding that its presumption of easy political influence down south may have been misplaced. High-level Chinese emissaries, say Burmese analysts, recently visited Burma to warn the junta to avoid any border instability in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1. The Kokang attack, which reportedly came as a surprise to Beijing, was seen as a direct defiance of that admonition. Since the Kokang clash, Chinese troop levels have doubled along sections of the usually porous border, and China's Defense Minister embarked on an emergency trip to Chengdu, whose regional army command covers the Burma border region.
Clash of Titans
It's perhaps no surprise that the junta is wary of Chinese influence, notwithstanding the two nations' growing economic ties. For decades, Beijing financially supported communist rebels in northern Burma, even at one point sending People's Liberation Army troops to reinforce their Burmese brothers in arms. For the fervently anticommunist junta, memories of this Chinese patronage are still fresh. It also doesn't help Burmese nationalism that large parts of Mandalay, the country's second largest city and historic royal capital, have turned into a giant Chinatown. "The SPDC wants to remake its image as the new great kings of Burma," says Aung Kyaw Zaw, the former communist rebel who now lives in Yunnan. "So even if they take advantage of China for business reasons, they don't want any foreigners interfering in their kingdom."
That notion of a Burmese kingdom has already been threatened by the country's ethnic minorities. In the 1990 elections that the military disregarded, its proxy party was trounced by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. But what's often forgotten about those polls is that the parties that finished second and third in terms of parliamentary seats were ethnic ones from Shan and Arakan states, respectively. (The military party came in fourth.) Burma's generals surely want to avoid a repeat of that ethnic electoral success.
Back in the hills of Laiza, as mosquitoes began to swarm in the late afternoon, I met Lieutenant Colonel Hkam Sa, who runs a training course for KIA officers. He has been with the rebel army since 1963, just two years after it was formed. For the first time since the KIA signed its cease-fire with the junta 15 years ago, he canceled classes and sent his battalion commanders back to active duty. "When I joined the KIA, I was 17 years old and I thought that Burma would end in the flames of civil war," he told me.
"Today, if you ask me the same question, I will give you the same answer: Burma will end up in civil war." If he's right, the hills of northern Burma will crackle with gunfire once again, and Felix will be heading off to battle.
Duct tape holds together his Chinese-made assault rifle, and the mosquito net in his rucksack gapes with so many holes that it practically invites dengue- and malaria-carrying insects to feast on his body. Felix has never fought in the jungles of northeastern Burma, where a rebel army is preparing for war with one of Asia's largest militaries. With no heavy artillery and little more than flip-flops and used flashlights to give their recruits, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) can only depend on guerrilla tactics to deter soldiers of the Burmese military regime. The 24-year-old cadet at the KIA's military academy, deep in the monsoon-drenched hills of Kachin state, juts his chin out, blinks back tears and announces he is ready for deployment. "I am shaking very hard inside," he tells me, his voice trembling. "But I have a responsibility to complete my mission."
Felix was promoted to active duty last month, when tensions reached fever pitch between Burma's ruling junta and various armed ethnic groups in the country's northern borderlands. In late August, the military regime unexpectedly overran the army of the nearby Kokang minority, sending some 30,000 refugees spilling into neighboring China.
Now other ethnic militias who control various jigsaw-puzzle pieces of northeastern Burma — the Kachin, the Wa, the Eastern Shan — are reinforcing their ragged armies and playing a terrifying guessing game: Who's next on the junta's hit list?
Two decades after Burma's army dictatorship reached an uneasy peace with a patchwork of ethnic militias, the country is again poised on the brink of civil war. The junta has long maintained a tense relationship with the up to 40% of the country's population that is composed of ethnic minorities. When Burma won independence from the British in 1948, political groups representing some of the country's 130-plus ethnicities agreed to join the union in exchange for autonomy. But uprisings quickly proliferated in the country's vast frontier, only worsening after the military regime wrested control of the country in 1962 and began limiting ethnic freedoms. Beginning in 1989, cease-fires were signed with 17 rebel militias, and certain ethnicities were granted a measure of self-rule. The junta claimed victory for having united one of the world's most diverse countries — and promptly began mining the natural resources that abounded in tribal regions.
With nationwide elections slated for next year, Burma's ethnic minorities may soon lose what little sovereignty they have left. The junta claims the polls are the final step in creating what it calls a "discipline-flourishing democracy," after it ignored the results of the last elections back in 1990. International human-rights groups, however, decry the process as little more than a choreographed exercise designed to legitimize the junta and stamp out any threats to its power. In April, the Burmese government informed the cease-fire groups that as part of the electoral run-up they would have to refashion their armies as part of a centrally controlled border guard force, the first step in what many fear will be the death knell to ethnic autonomy. The deadline to accede to the regime's demand is October. Most ethnic groups have already responded with a firm no — among them the Kachin and the Kokang, whose two-decade cease-fire with the Burmese abruptly ended last month when junta forces invaded its tiny territory. The ease with which the Kokang were defeated presumably buoyed the junta, many of whose members gained their battlefield experience against ethnic militias. "Everyone in the West talks about democracy and [Nobel Peace Prize laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi," says Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military expert and former communist rebel living in exile in China's Yunnan province. "But the junta's biggest enemy is not her. It is the ethnics."
The renewed threat of civil war in Burma isn't just an internal problem. The country's minorities are concentrated in its borderlands, and in recent weeks, as the junta has surged into rebel territory, tens of thousands of ethnic refugees have poured into Thailand and China.
Beyond the international humanitarian crisis also lies a potential economic one. Neighboring nations are increasingly dependent on Burma's resources, and most of the country's natural wealth — from jade and timber to hydropower and natural gas — is concentrated in the tribal regions. The planned route for a Chinese-financed project of dual natural-gas and oil pipelines, for instance, begins in an ethnically troubled part of western Burma's Arakan state and runs past the part of Shan state where fighting raged last month in Kokang. Construction of the Shwe pipeline project, the biggest ever foreign investment commitment to Burma, was supposed to begin this month, but ethnic skirmishes may imperil that schedule. Reports are also trickling in from Kachin state, where dam projects funded by foreign investors are suspending operations because of potential violence. Little wonder that Beijing, which usually shields Burma from any formal criticism by the U.N., publicly condemned the Kokang assault, warning that the junta should "properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the ... border region."
Law of the Jungle
To get to the KIA's mountainous stronghold of Laiza, I first traveled deep into China's southwestern Yunnan province, to a small trading settlement called Nabang. Even though the border town is in China, many of its residents wore Burmese longyis, or sarongs, and women's faces were painted beige with the thanaka paste used in Burma as a skin salve. Despite the occasional truck rumbling past overloaded with teak logs from Burma, Nabang felt like it was just emerging from an opium-induced nap.
But a quick splash across a few bamboo planks strewn across a river and I entered another world. Laiza was very much awake, a hair-trigger atmosphere only heightened by the fact that practically every teenaged boy appeared to have a machine gun slung over his shoulder. Soldiers from the KIA's mobile brigade materialized from the sub-tropical canopy, stealthy as the tigers that prowl Kachin state. As my jeep climbed up a mountain path, I passed teenagers with the hardened gazes of men trudging toward a military-recruiting office. The number of youth who have volunteered to enlist has skyrocketed, as the drumbeat of war with Burma's junta escalates.
Many of these youngsters fit Hollywood casting for Southeast Asian guerrillas: scrawny, scrappy adolescents who show no sign of needing a shave anytime soon. But Felix, who sidled up to me as I watched the KIA academy cadets run through their drills, disturbed the easy image of a militia conscripting hungry boys in return for a fistful of rice.
Armed with a university degree in international relations, Felix speaks fluent English and expresses himself eloquently on political philosophy. But as an ethnic Kachin — an ethnicity more than 1 million strong, famed for its fortitude while serving on the Allied side in World War II — Felix knows his chances of succeeding in junta-controlled Burma are as slender as the jungle vines KIA soldiers sometimes eat to survive. So he has joined other disillusioned university graduates among the KIA ranks. "Some people say we must have dialogue with the SPDC," he says, referring to the junta by its Orwellian-sounding moniker, the State Peace and Development Council. "But that is a snail's pace. The only thing the SPDC understands is force, so we must meet their force with ours."
Ethnic Tinderbox
Although the Burmese majority faces plenty of repression, there's no question that the junta reserves its worst brutality for ethnic groups. International human-rights organizations have documented a wide array of abuses against minorities, ranging from forced labor and army conscription to mass rape and village relocations that have displaced 500,000 people in eastern Burma alone. Complicating matters, some ethnic groups are not Buddhist in a country where the junta celebrates that faith and often persecutes those who do not. (The Kachin, Chin and many Karen, for example, are Christian.) Career trajectories for many ethnic minorities are stunted. Despite their proud martial tradition, Kachin know it's nearly impossible to rise in the Burmese army beyond the junior rank of captain.
In recent months, the decades of persistent discrimination have spawned an unusual alliance between four armed ethnic groups: the KIA, the United Wa State Army, the Eastern Shan State Army (also known as the Mongla army) and the Kokang Army. The junta's lightning strike on the Kokang capital Laogai, which is estimated to have caused some 200 civilian casualties, left the other alliance members ill-equipped to respond immediately. But exile groups in China and Thailand are reporting that the Wa — which, with some 25,000 foot soldiers and an arsenal of heavy artillery, is the strongest of the rebel armies — is providing support to the shreds of Kokang forces still fighting, as well as giving sanctuary to Kokang leader Peng Jiasheng. With the junta reinforcing troop levels in the country's north, another ethnic militia, the Karen National Liberation Army in eastern Burma, hopes to recuperate after a devastating series of losses earlier this summer.
Cohesion among the ethnic groups, which spent considerable time fighting one another as well as the junta, could change the nature of battle in Burma. At the KIA's self-styled Pentagon, a collection of simple concrete buildings on a breezy hilltop, members of other ethnic groups have come to be schooled in military tactics from one of the most tenacious rebel militias. One youth leader from the western state of Arakan spoke to me in smooth, American-inflected English. "I need to do something practical," he said. "I need to prepare for war. Politics in this country is crap. It's just a way for the SPDC to stay in power."
The Politics of Money
As they face the possibility of renewed conflict, leaders of some of the ethnic militias aren't just looking out for their downtrodden populaces. They're also protecting their own interests in a region that, after all, extends into the infamous Golden Triangle. Starved of other economic means, some rebel armies have resorted to dubious funding schemes, like selling opium, illegal timber and methamphetamines. During the ceasefire period, the junta largely turned a blind eye to such businesses, which financed spacious villas and golf courses for some ethnic commanders.
When U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma in 2007, one of the people he met was Kokang honcho Peng, who was trotted out to represent the junta's amity with ethnic groups. But this summer, Peng publicly rejected the idea of turning his army into a border force. By early August, the junta was accusing Peng of being behind an illegal arms-and-drugs factory. The illicit activity, claimed the regime, compelled it to invade Kokang turf, even though the warlord's business proclivities had been an open secret for years. Indeed, both the Eastern Shan and Wa are also believed to have financed themselves through such shady means; the latter's southern commander, Wei Hsueh-kang, has been singled out by the U.S. Treasury Department as a major drug trafficker. Indeed, one battle-avoiding option for the junta is luring corrupt ethnic elders to its side. "Divide-and-conquer tactics are the SPDC's best friend," says KIA Brigadier General Gun Maw.
The complicated ethnic landscape puts Burma's giant neighbor, China, in a bind. Over the past few years, tens of thousands of Chinese businesspeople have fanned across Burma, setting up trading companies and filling downtowns with signs in Chinese characters. Much of the recent Chinese influx is in ethnic areas, where rebel groups have also come to rely on Chinese-made arms to continue their struggle against the junta. (The Chinese, however, are an equal-opportunity weapons dealer, supplying the junta with much of its military hardware.)
With the possibility of war breaking out along its long border with Burma, China is finding that its presumption of easy political influence down south may have been misplaced. High-level Chinese emissaries, say Burmese analysts, recently visited Burma to warn the junta to avoid any border instability in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1. The Kokang attack, which reportedly came as a surprise to Beijing, was seen as a direct defiance of that admonition. Since the Kokang clash, Chinese troop levels have doubled along sections of the usually porous border, and China's Defense Minister embarked on an emergency trip to Chengdu, whose regional army command covers the Burma border region.
Clash of Titans
It's perhaps no surprise that the junta is wary of Chinese influence, notwithstanding the two nations' growing economic ties. For decades, Beijing financially supported communist rebels in northern Burma, even at one point sending People's Liberation Army troops to reinforce their Burmese brothers in arms. For the fervently anticommunist junta, memories of this Chinese patronage are still fresh. It also doesn't help Burmese nationalism that large parts of Mandalay, the country's second largest city and historic royal capital, have turned into a giant Chinatown. "The SPDC wants to remake its image as the new great kings of Burma," says Aung Kyaw Zaw, the former communist rebel who now lives in Yunnan. "So even if they take advantage of China for business reasons, they don't want any foreigners interfering in their kingdom."
That notion of a Burmese kingdom has already been threatened by the country's ethnic minorities. In the 1990 elections that the military disregarded, its proxy party was trounced by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. But what's often forgotten about those polls is that the parties that finished second and third in terms of parliamentary seats were ethnic ones from Shan and Arakan states, respectively. (The military party came in fourth.) Burma's generals surely want to avoid a repeat of that ethnic electoral success.
Back in the hills of Laiza, as mosquitoes began to swarm in the late afternoon, I met Lieutenant Colonel Hkam Sa, who runs a training course for KIA officers. He has been with the rebel army since 1963, just two years after it was formed. For the first time since the KIA signed its cease-fire with the junta 15 years ago, he canceled classes and sent his battalion commanders back to active duty. "When I joined the KIA, I was 17 years old and I thought that Burma would end in the flames of civil war," he told me.
"Today, if you ask me the same question, I will give you the same answer: Burma will end up in civil war." If he's right, the hills of northern Burma will crackle with gunfire once again, and Felix will be heading off to battle.
***************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Body Searches Ordered at Suu Kyi Compound
By KO HTWE, Friday, September 11, 2009
Security guards at the compound of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon now conduct body searches, according to Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, who visited her on Thursday.
“Suu Kyi said the tighter security is not appropriate,” Nyan Win said. He met with Suu Kyi to discuss her appeal, which is scheduled to be heard on Sept. 18.
“There are many security guards outside the compound. In the compound there are only three women. If one lady leaves the compound, they make a record. Suu Kyi said the security is too much,” Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Friday.
“Only one person at a time is allowed inside Suu Kyi’s compound. I can not tell the number of guards exactly. When you go in and come out they do a body search,” he said.
Security around Suu Kyi’s compound was increased after she returned home from Insein Prison last month, following her conviction and 18-month sentence under house arrest.
Meanwhile, diplomats in Rangoon and Bangkok have asked Burma’s ruling junta to allow Suu Kyi to receive diplomatic visitors.
Suu Kyi was convicted of violation of the terms of her house arrest after she allowed an American intruder to spend two days at her home.
The leader of the National League for Democracy, Burma’s main opposition party, Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 14 of the past 20 years.
By KO HTWE, Friday, September 11, 2009
Security guards at the compound of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon now conduct body searches, according to Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, who visited her on Thursday.
“Suu Kyi said the tighter security is not appropriate,” Nyan Win said. He met with Suu Kyi to discuss her appeal, which is scheduled to be heard on Sept. 18.
“There are many security guards outside the compound. In the compound there are only three women. If one lady leaves the compound, they make a record. Suu Kyi said the security is too much,” Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Friday.
“Only one person at a time is allowed inside Suu Kyi’s compound. I can not tell the number of guards exactly. When you go in and come out they do a body search,” he said.
Security around Suu Kyi’s compound was increased after she returned home from Insein Prison last month, following her conviction and 18-month sentence under house arrest.
Meanwhile, diplomats in Rangoon and Bangkok have asked Burma’s ruling junta to allow Suu Kyi to receive diplomatic visitors.
Suu Kyi was convicted of violation of the terms of her house arrest after she allowed an American intruder to spend two days at her home.
The leader of the National League for Democracy, Burma’s main opposition party, Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 14 of the past 20 years.
***************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Dim Lights, Big City
By SAW YAN NAING, Friday, September 11, 2009
If New York is “The City that Never Sleeps,” perhaps Rangoon could be described as “The City that Never Wakes Up”; for the 5 million people who live in Burma’s former capital spend most of their lives in darkness—such is the limited and inconsistent supply of electricity.
While Burma’s military rulers are currently accused of corruption and laundering massive profits from the country’s natural resources, the common family household in Rangoon runs on generators, batteries or just candles.
Everyone, from businessmen to teashop owners to street vendors, is forced to contemplate a personal solution to the lack of power in the city.
Anyone who can afford a generator keeps one on hand 24 hours a day.
“It’s what we call the system of ko-to-ko-hta (relying on yourself),” a restaurant proprietor said.
At a late-night massage parlor in Pabedan Township, a security guard shrugs and tells a customer: “Don’t worry, brother. If the electricity goes off, the masseuse will fan you with a yettaung (handheld fan).”
Htoo Htoo, a Karen girl in Tamwe Township, said that when the electricity finally comes on, everyone in her house claps, shouts and laughs. “It is the moment we find the gold,” she said, using an old Burmese metaphor.
She described how everyone quickly jumps up from their seats to take advantage of what power there is while it lasts. “One person runs outside to pump water,” she explained. “We all rotate as quickly as possible—taking a shower, going to the toilet, washing clothes, cooking rice, doing everything we can.”
Htoo Htoo said that if they can finish their chores and bathroom ablutions in time, her family will gather in the living room to watch TV, listen to music or sing karaoke until the lights go off again.
In Bahan Township, Naing Kyaw said his sons and daughters, who are all college graduates, almost always studied by candlelight.
In July, the state-owned Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE), which is responsible for electricity generation, transmission and distribution in Burma, announced that electrical power was to be rationed to just six hours a day.
The MEPE said the electricity supply would be distributed on a rotation basis among Rangoon’s more than 40 townships.
A city official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the electricity supply in Rangoon had to be reduced earlier this year because the pipeline carrying gas from the southern Andaman Sea to Rangoon power generators—near the town of Belin in Mon State—had been damaged by floodwater.
But many Rangoon residents say that Burma’s new capital, Naypyidaw, gets electrical power at Rangoon’s expense.
One government worker in Rangoon said, “Even people who live far from the roads in Naypyidaw get 24 hours of electricity.”
A recent exposé written by a defecting official, the former deputy chief of the Burmese embassy in Washington DC, Maj Aung Lynn Htut, claimed that junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe deliberately withholds electricity from the residents of Rangoon as a psychological tactic—he wants the public to be absorbed with daily concerns and thereby lose interest in politics.
Than Shwe was previously stationed in the psychological warfare department of the Burmese armed forces.
“He understands very well that if the public is allowed to have a better life it will gain a progressive outlook and become interested in politics,” Aung Lynn Htut wrote.
Throughout the 1990s, the military authorities were able to provide a 24-hour supply of electricity to Rangoon, except during the dry season—March to June—when the Lawpita hydroelectric dam, located 210 miles (350 kilometers) north of the city, was short of rainwater.
However, for the last eight years, electricity has been rationed and reduced due to a rising demand.
The Rangoon-based Weekly Eleven journal reported earlier this year that Rangoon’s 5 million residents need about 450 megawatts of power every day.
However, total national output of electricity is 845 megawatts, less than the national capacity of 1,200 megawatts, and far short of the country's electricity needs.
The power crisis is exacerbated by the draining of foreign exchange reserves needed to buy fuel and spare parts for antiquated generators.
Analysts also say the military government keeps much of the country’s energy supply in reserve for military purposes and emergency situations.
Sean Turnell, a specialist on Burma’s economy at Australia’s Macquarie University, said the junta leaders are believed to have pocketed at least US $2.5 billion from the sale of natural gas to the country’s neighbors. “None of this money has been used to alleviate poverty or build a stronger economy,” said Turnell.
On Wednesday, a US-based NGO, EarthRights International, released a report accusing the Burmese leadership of illegally stashing some $4.8 billion in Singaporean banks.
By SAW YAN NAING, Friday, September 11, 2009
If New York is “The City that Never Sleeps,” perhaps Rangoon could be described as “The City that Never Wakes Up”; for the 5 million people who live in Burma’s former capital spend most of their lives in darkness—such is the limited and inconsistent supply of electricity.
While Burma’s military rulers are currently accused of corruption and laundering massive profits from the country’s natural resources, the common family household in Rangoon runs on generators, batteries or just candles.
Everyone, from businessmen to teashop owners to street vendors, is forced to contemplate a personal solution to the lack of power in the city.
Anyone who can afford a generator keeps one on hand 24 hours a day.
“It’s what we call the system of ko-to-ko-hta (relying on yourself),” a restaurant proprietor said.
At a late-night massage parlor in Pabedan Township, a security guard shrugs and tells a customer: “Don’t worry, brother. If the electricity goes off, the masseuse will fan you with a yettaung (handheld fan).”
Htoo Htoo, a Karen girl in Tamwe Township, said that when the electricity finally comes on, everyone in her house claps, shouts and laughs. “It is the moment we find the gold,” she said, using an old Burmese metaphor.
She described how everyone quickly jumps up from their seats to take advantage of what power there is while it lasts. “One person runs outside to pump water,” she explained. “We all rotate as quickly as possible—taking a shower, going to the toilet, washing clothes, cooking rice, doing everything we can.”
Htoo Htoo said that if they can finish their chores and bathroom ablutions in time, her family will gather in the living room to watch TV, listen to music or sing karaoke until the lights go off again.
In Bahan Township, Naing Kyaw said his sons and daughters, who are all college graduates, almost always studied by candlelight.
In July, the state-owned Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE), which is responsible for electricity generation, transmission and distribution in Burma, announced that electrical power was to be rationed to just six hours a day.
The MEPE said the electricity supply would be distributed on a rotation basis among Rangoon’s more than 40 townships.
A city official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the electricity supply in Rangoon had to be reduced earlier this year because the pipeline carrying gas from the southern Andaman Sea to Rangoon power generators—near the town of Belin in Mon State—had been damaged by floodwater.
But many Rangoon residents say that Burma’s new capital, Naypyidaw, gets electrical power at Rangoon’s expense.
One government worker in Rangoon said, “Even people who live far from the roads in Naypyidaw get 24 hours of electricity.”
A recent exposé written by a defecting official, the former deputy chief of the Burmese embassy in Washington DC, Maj Aung Lynn Htut, claimed that junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe deliberately withholds electricity from the residents of Rangoon as a psychological tactic—he wants the public to be absorbed with daily concerns and thereby lose interest in politics.
Than Shwe was previously stationed in the psychological warfare department of the Burmese armed forces.
“He understands very well that if the public is allowed to have a better life it will gain a progressive outlook and become interested in politics,” Aung Lynn Htut wrote.
Throughout the 1990s, the military authorities were able to provide a 24-hour supply of electricity to Rangoon, except during the dry season—March to June—when the Lawpita hydroelectric dam, located 210 miles (350 kilometers) north of the city, was short of rainwater.
However, for the last eight years, electricity has been rationed and reduced due to a rising demand.
The Rangoon-based Weekly Eleven journal reported earlier this year that Rangoon’s 5 million residents need about 450 megawatts of power every day.
However, total national output of electricity is 845 megawatts, less than the national capacity of 1,200 megawatts, and far short of the country's electricity needs.
The power crisis is exacerbated by the draining of foreign exchange reserves needed to buy fuel and spare parts for antiquated generators.
Analysts also say the military government keeps much of the country’s energy supply in reserve for military purposes and emergency situations.
Sean Turnell, a specialist on Burma’s economy at Australia’s Macquarie University, said the junta leaders are believed to have pocketed at least US $2.5 billion from the sale of natural gas to the country’s neighbors. “None of this money has been used to alleviate poverty or build a stronger economy,” said Turnell.
On Wednesday, a US-based NGO, EarthRights International, released a report accusing the Burmese leadership of illegally stashing some $4.8 billion in Singaporean banks.
***************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Junta Cracks Down on Internet Access in Ministries
By AUNG THET WINE, Friday, September 11, 2009
Government ministries in Burma have clamped down on civil servants accessing the Internet because of leaked information to Burmese exile media, according to sources in Naypyidaw.
The ministries include the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Revenue, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry No.1, said the source.
An employee in the Ministry of Commerce in Naypyidaw said that information from confidential files detailing the work of high officials with foreign countries, especially North Korea, have appeared in the exile media, including The Irrawaddy.
The source said that the order was posted by the ministry’s director-general. Government workers who need to use the Internet now must request permission.
Also, workers are now restricted to using government e-mail accounts assigned to them, and they may not use non-government accounts at work.
Sources said the speed and efficiency of work has been greatly reduced, because people routinely need to access the Internet for information.
A Rangoon civil servant said, “Before I could look at exile media news from my office. But, after exile media reported about Burma’s plans to acquire nuclear technology, they blocked Internet access at our office.”
A computer technician in Rangoon said, “Our government is trying to move backward, while many other developing countries are trying to move forward.
“They often boast that they will implement e-government systems within ministries. If they want to do that, why are they restricting the Internet?” he said.
According to the CIA World Fact Book, there were 70,000 Burmese Internet users in 2007 and 108 internet hosts in 2008, while Thailand had 13.4 million Internet users and 1.1 million Internet hosts in the same period. Internet speed in Burma is normally slow compared to neighboring countries.
Since September 2007, the junta has viewed Internet users as a threat to military control of information. The international community learned of the junta’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2008 through reports from private citizens posted on the Internet.
The authorities post notices in Internet shops in Burma that warn customers accessing banned Web sites is against the law.
By AUNG THET WINE, Friday, September 11, 2009
Government ministries in Burma have clamped down on civil servants accessing the Internet because of leaked information to Burmese exile media, according to sources in Naypyidaw.
The ministries include the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Revenue, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry No.1, said the source.
An employee in the Ministry of Commerce in Naypyidaw said that information from confidential files detailing the work of high officials with foreign countries, especially North Korea, have appeared in the exile media, including The Irrawaddy.
The source said that the order was posted by the ministry’s director-general. Government workers who need to use the Internet now must request permission.
Also, workers are now restricted to using government e-mail accounts assigned to them, and they may not use non-government accounts at work.
Sources said the speed and efficiency of work has been greatly reduced, because people routinely need to access the Internet for information.
A Rangoon civil servant said, “Before I could look at exile media news from my office. But, after exile media reported about Burma’s plans to acquire nuclear technology, they blocked Internet access at our office.”
A computer technician in Rangoon said, “Our government is trying to move backward, while many other developing countries are trying to move forward.
“They often boast that they will implement e-government systems within ministries. If they want to do that, why are they restricting the Internet?” he said.
According to the CIA World Fact Book, there were 70,000 Burmese Internet users in 2007 and 108 internet hosts in 2008, while Thailand had 13.4 million Internet users and 1.1 million Internet hosts in the same period. Internet speed in Burma is normally slow compared to neighboring countries.
Since September 2007, the junta has viewed Internet users as a threat to military control of information. The international community learned of the junta’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2008 through reports from private citizens posted on the Internet.
The authorities post notices in Internet shops in Burma that warn customers accessing banned Web sites is against the law.
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Mizzima News - HIV/AIDS voluntary groups to register with health ministry
by Nem Davies
Friday, 11 September 2009 21:31
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese Ministry of Health has directed a network of voluntary groups, which are providing assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS, to register with the ministry.
The National Health Programme (NHP) under the Ministry of Health earlier this month issued a directive ordering the networks working for people living with HIV not to function in their own names but to register under Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV prevention unit of the Ministry of Health.
“They don’t want to see these networks working in their own names,” an official of an INGO working for HIV/AIDS told Mizzima.
The directive states that if the groups want to function on their own, they must apply for registration through various stages such as Township, District and finally at the Home Ministry in keeping with the law.
“It’s almost impossible. We won’t be allowed to register even if we apply for it. This is the usual phenomenon in Burma,” the official said.
“The directive does not say anything on action to be taken for non-registration. So we are continuing our work as usual,” another official of an INGO, who received the directive issued by NHP from Naypyitaw, said.
The networks namely ‘Mee Ein Shin’, ‘Tet Myanmar’ and Padomma, are basically formed with people living with HIV and these people are personally involved in providing assistance to other people living with HIV across the country.
“Peer-to-Peer relationship is achieving more understanding among us. We can give them more care and sympathy. We can encourage our fellow people who live with HIV,” an official at the ‘Myanmar Positive Group’ (MPG), who is also living with HIV, told Mizzima.
These networks had started work in 2004 and have gradually expanded with over 100 members involved in voluntary works.
An official of the UK-based international HIV/AIDS alliance group, which is providing technical and financial assistance to these small networks, said, “These networks are formed to encourage each other to enjoy social freedom as other ordinary people and to resist social ostracism. This is their main objective.”
These networks help people living with HIV to receive Anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs by connecting them with groups that are providing medical assistance, and serving as attendants in hospitals and distributing pamphlets.
According to the announcement made by French NGO Medicines Sans Frontier (MSF) on 25 November 2008, there are about 240,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Burma and over 75,000 of them are in urgent need of ARV.
But the actual availability of this essential drug is less than 20 per cent of the total needy patients, the announcement said.
They have to give substitute drugs for ARV, the antibiotic Septrin instead, an official, who is working in the field in central Burma for the UK-based International HIV/AIDS assistance organization told Mizzima.
“Our organization can give ARV drugs to only 120 patients in the whole country. The rest of them can be given only substitute drugs, Septrin, just to contain the disease. It is less effective,” he added.
The organization has been providing essential drugs to only a limited number of people with HIV/AIDS in central Burma region of Mandalay, Bagan, Poppa, Yenanchaung, Myingyan, Sagaing and Monywa.
But sources said, a majority of the people with HIV still lack the drugs and urgently need it.
“The government gives assistance on a small scale. They can give it to only 50 people in Magwe. The requirement is much more than that,” another official of an international aid group said.
The ‘Global Fund’, the main provider of assistance in the fight against TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS, suspended its assistance to Burma in August 2005, after citing government restrictions on the group’s volunteers.
After the junta restricted the movements of humanitarian assistance workers in Burma and the suspension by the Global Fund, the fund for fighting the three diseases have been given in the name of ‘Three Diseases Fund – 3 D Fund’ since 2006.
Australia, the European Commission, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Britain under the 3D funds provided USD 100 million to fight against these diseases until 2011.
by Nem Davies
Friday, 11 September 2009 21:31
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese Ministry of Health has directed a network of voluntary groups, which are providing assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS, to register with the ministry.
The National Health Programme (NHP) under the Ministry of Health earlier this month issued a directive ordering the networks working for people living with HIV not to function in their own names but to register under Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV prevention unit of the Ministry of Health.
“They don’t want to see these networks working in their own names,” an official of an INGO working for HIV/AIDS told Mizzima.
The directive states that if the groups want to function on their own, they must apply for registration through various stages such as Township, District and finally at the Home Ministry in keeping with the law.
“It’s almost impossible. We won’t be allowed to register even if we apply for it. This is the usual phenomenon in Burma,” the official said.
“The directive does not say anything on action to be taken for non-registration. So we are continuing our work as usual,” another official of an INGO, who received the directive issued by NHP from Naypyitaw, said.
The networks namely ‘Mee Ein Shin’, ‘Tet Myanmar’ and Padomma, are basically formed with people living with HIV and these people are personally involved in providing assistance to other people living with HIV across the country.
“Peer-to-Peer relationship is achieving more understanding among us. We can give them more care and sympathy. We can encourage our fellow people who live with HIV,” an official at the ‘Myanmar Positive Group’ (MPG), who is also living with HIV, told Mizzima.
These networks had started work in 2004 and have gradually expanded with over 100 members involved in voluntary works.
An official of the UK-based international HIV/AIDS alliance group, which is providing technical and financial assistance to these small networks, said, “These networks are formed to encourage each other to enjoy social freedom as other ordinary people and to resist social ostracism. This is their main objective.”
These networks help people living with HIV to receive Anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs by connecting them with groups that are providing medical assistance, and serving as attendants in hospitals and distributing pamphlets.
According to the announcement made by French NGO Medicines Sans Frontier (MSF) on 25 November 2008, there are about 240,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Burma and over 75,000 of them are in urgent need of ARV.
But the actual availability of this essential drug is less than 20 per cent of the total needy patients, the announcement said.
They have to give substitute drugs for ARV, the antibiotic Septrin instead, an official, who is working in the field in central Burma for the UK-based International HIV/AIDS assistance organization told Mizzima.
“Our organization can give ARV drugs to only 120 patients in the whole country. The rest of them can be given only substitute drugs, Septrin, just to contain the disease. It is less effective,” he added.
The organization has been providing essential drugs to only a limited number of people with HIV/AIDS in central Burma region of Mandalay, Bagan, Poppa, Yenanchaung, Myingyan, Sagaing and Monywa.
But sources said, a majority of the people with HIV still lack the drugs and urgently need it.
“The government gives assistance on a small scale. They can give it to only 50 people in Magwe. The requirement is much more than that,” another official of an international aid group said.
The ‘Global Fund’, the main provider of assistance in the fight against TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS, suspended its assistance to Burma in August 2005, after citing government restrictions on the group’s volunteers.
After the junta restricted the movements of humanitarian assistance workers in Burma and the suspension by the Global Fund, the fund for fighting the three diseases have been given in the name of ‘Three Diseases Fund – 3 D Fund’ since 2006.
Australia, the European Commission, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Britain under the 3D funds provided USD 100 million to fight against these diseases until 2011.
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