Myanmar minister meets detained democracy icon Suu Kyi
By Aung Hla Tun – Wed Oct 7, 7:04 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – Detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi met a high-level official in Myanmar's military-ruled government for a second time in a week following her offer to lobby the West to lift sanctions.
A source in Myanmar's Home Ministry said Suu Kyi held talks at a state guest house for 25 minutes with Labor Minister Aung Kyi, a go-between who has met the Nobel Peace Prize winner seven times in the last two years.
The two met on Saturday for the first time since January 2008, but neither Suu Kyi, detained for 14 of the last 20 years, nor the junta revealed what was discussed.
Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, had not been informed of the talks and said he was denied access to Suu Kyi to discuss her appeal to the Supreme Court over her 18-month sentence for a security breach while under house arrest in May.
"We hope to find out what was discussed when we meet again," said Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
"It seems Aung Kyi is conveying messages between (junta leader) Than Shwe and Suu Kyi."
SANCTIONS INEFFECTIVE
Suu Kyi made a formal offer to the regime on September 25 to meet Western diplomats to discuss the impact of sanctions, which critics say have been ineffective and have hurt the Burmese people. She has said she is willing to work with the generals and use her influence to mediate with the West.
The United States held talks last week with representatives of the Myanmar government but emphasized that the lifting of sanctions would be a mistake because the regime has yet to improve its human rights record.
The talks came after Myanmar last month sent its prime minister to the U.N. General Assembly for the first time in 14 years, a move seen by analysts as part of a charm offensive to court international support for the polls.
Aung Zaw, editor of the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine, suggested the generals were using Suu Kyi for their own gain and warned not to expect any substantive change.
"When they're pushed into a corner, they always have a card to play, and this time, it's Aung San Suu Kyi," he told Reuters.
"We hope something will come out of this. If it does, it will take a long time, but I really don't think the regime will change."
Suu Kyi was found guilty in August of breaking a law protecting the state from "subversive elements" when, while under house arrest, she allowed an American intruder to stay at her lakeside home for two nights.
The ruling sparked international outrage and was widely dismissed as a ploy to keep Suu Kyi out of next year's elections, the first since 1990, when her National League for Democracy scored a landslide victory that the junta refused to recognize.
By Aung Hla Tun – Wed Oct 7, 7:04 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – Detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi met a high-level official in Myanmar's military-ruled government for a second time in a week following her offer to lobby the West to lift sanctions.
A source in Myanmar's Home Ministry said Suu Kyi held talks at a state guest house for 25 minutes with Labor Minister Aung Kyi, a go-between who has met the Nobel Peace Prize winner seven times in the last two years.
The two met on Saturday for the first time since January 2008, but neither Suu Kyi, detained for 14 of the last 20 years, nor the junta revealed what was discussed.
Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, had not been informed of the talks and said he was denied access to Suu Kyi to discuss her appeal to the Supreme Court over her 18-month sentence for a security breach while under house arrest in May.
"We hope to find out what was discussed when we meet again," said Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
"It seems Aung Kyi is conveying messages between (junta leader) Than Shwe and Suu Kyi."
SANCTIONS INEFFECTIVE
Suu Kyi made a formal offer to the regime on September 25 to meet Western diplomats to discuss the impact of sanctions, which critics say have been ineffective and have hurt the Burmese people. She has said she is willing to work with the generals and use her influence to mediate with the West.
The United States held talks last week with representatives of the Myanmar government but emphasized that the lifting of sanctions would be a mistake because the regime has yet to improve its human rights record.
The talks came after Myanmar last month sent its prime minister to the U.N. General Assembly for the first time in 14 years, a move seen by analysts as part of a charm offensive to court international support for the polls.
Aung Zaw, editor of the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine, suggested the generals were using Suu Kyi for their own gain and warned not to expect any substantive change.
"When they're pushed into a corner, they always have a card to play, and this time, it's Aung San Suu Kyi," he told Reuters.
"We hope something will come out of this. If it does, it will take a long time, but I really don't think the regime will change."
Suu Kyi was found guilty in August of breaking a law protecting the state from "subversive elements" when, while under house arrest, she allowed an American intruder to stay at her lakeside home for two nights.
The ruling sparked international outrage and was widely dismissed as a ploy to keep Suu Kyi out of next year's elections, the first since 1990, when her National League for Democracy scored a landslide victory that the junta refused to recognize.
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For US, North Korea step vindicates hard line: analysts
by Shaun Tandon – Wed Oct 7, 10:04 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – North Korea hopes to lure the United States to the table with its offer to resume denuclearization talks, but many in Washington see the shift as proof its hard line is working, analysts say.
President Barack Obama's administration reacted cautiously Tuesday to the isolated communist state's announcement that it was willing to return to multilateral disarmament talks it stormed out of six months ago.
But North Korea -- which has tested an atom bomb and a flurry of missiles this year -- said its return to talks depended on the United States meeting one-on-one to repair "hostile relations."
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly responded by reiterating the United States would talk bilaterally with the North only as part of a return to six-nation talks and sought a complete end to its nuclear weapons program.
Experts said that recent sanctions on North Korea, imposed by the United Nations with strong US support, were working better than perhaps even the Obama administration hoped.
The administration -- which entered office planning to engage North Korea -- has found that with sanctions "they have a very powerful tool, and one that could become even more powerful," said Victor Cha, who was former president George W. Bush's top adviser on North Korea.
The United Arab Emirates in August seized a ship purportedly carrying North Korean weapons to Iran; another North Korean cargo ship suspected of heading to Myanmar turned around after being tracked by a US Navy destroyer.
"The real diplomatic challenge is that the North is going to want some of the sanctions taken off if they come back to talks," said Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank and an associate professor at Georgetown University.
But Bruce Klingner, a former CIA expert who is now a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said that influential administration officials told him privately that they were in no mood to ease sanctions.
"The inside view is pretty much what you see publicly. No one is advocating going soft on North Korea. No one is advocating sanctions until the activity that triggered them is removed," Klingner said.
The sanctions carry added weight as they are UN-mandated, unlike efforts to isolate North Korea under Bush that other nations could dismiss as coming from an unpopular US administration, he said.
"It sent a message that countries are actually going to enforce and implement UN resolutions. So companies even doing legitimate deals in North Korea are more wary of unwittingly being complicit," Klingner said.
The State Department said it would consult with China, North Korea's primary partner which US analysts believe has been irritated by its neighbor's defiant behavior.
Leader Kim Jong-Il had made the pledge during a visit to Pyongyang by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. China was the host of six-way talks that also involved Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.
John Bolton, a US ambassador to the United Nations under Bush and an outspoken conservative, said that China's key strategic interest was not denuclearization but maintaining a divided Korean peninsula as a buffer.
"I don't think the sanctions are going to do much absent a much stronger Chinese position," said Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
"There's never any problem with North Korea or Iran coming back to the negotiation table; it's a matter of how much you give them," he said.
"What negotiations do is buy them time -- and time is critical for proliferators."
by Shaun Tandon – Wed Oct 7, 10:04 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – North Korea hopes to lure the United States to the table with its offer to resume denuclearization talks, but many in Washington see the shift as proof its hard line is working, analysts say.
President Barack Obama's administration reacted cautiously Tuesday to the isolated communist state's announcement that it was willing to return to multilateral disarmament talks it stormed out of six months ago.
But North Korea -- which has tested an atom bomb and a flurry of missiles this year -- said its return to talks depended on the United States meeting one-on-one to repair "hostile relations."
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly responded by reiterating the United States would talk bilaterally with the North only as part of a return to six-nation talks and sought a complete end to its nuclear weapons program.
Experts said that recent sanctions on North Korea, imposed by the United Nations with strong US support, were working better than perhaps even the Obama administration hoped.
The administration -- which entered office planning to engage North Korea -- has found that with sanctions "they have a very powerful tool, and one that could become even more powerful," said Victor Cha, who was former president George W. Bush's top adviser on North Korea.
The United Arab Emirates in August seized a ship purportedly carrying North Korean weapons to Iran; another North Korean cargo ship suspected of heading to Myanmar turned around after being tracked by a US Navy destroyer.
"The real diplomatic challenge is that the North is going to want some of the sanctions taken off if they come back to talks," said Cha, the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank and an associate professor at Georgetown University.
But Bruce Klingner, a former CIA expert who is now a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said that influential administration officials told him privately that they were in no mood to ease sanctions.
"The inside view is pretty much what you see publicly. No one is advocating going soft on North Korea. No one is advocating sanctions until the activity that triggered them is removed," Klingner said.
The sanctions carry added weight as they are UN-mandated, unlike efforts to isolate North Korea under Bush that other nations could dismiss as coming from an unpopular US administration, he said.
"It sent a message that countries are actually going to enforce and implement UN resolutions. So companies even doing legitimate deals in North Korea are more wary of unwittingly being complicit," Klingner said.
The State Department said it would consult with China, North Korea's primary partner which US analysts believe has been irritated by its neighbor's defiant behavior.
Leader Kim Jong-Il had made the pledge during a visit to Pyongyang by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. China was the host of six-way talks that also involved Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States.
John Bolton, a US ambassador to the United Nations under Bush and an outspoken conservative, said that China's key strategic interest was not denuclearization but maintaining a divided Korean peninsula as a buffer.
"I don't think the sanctions are going to do much absent a much stronger Chinese position," said Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
"There's never any problem with North Korea or Iran coming back to the negotiation table; it's a matter of how much you give them," he said.
"What negotiations do is buy them time -- and time is critical for proliferators."
***********************************************************
Four receive human rights awards
Published: Oct. 7, 2009 at 12:31 PM
NEW YORK, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Four human rights activists -- one each from Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Russia -- have received human rights awards, advocates said.
The Alison Des Forges Defender awards are given for extraordinary activism, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
The four winners of this year's awards were Daniel Bekele, lawyer and activist from Ethiopia; Bo Kyi, co-founder of Myanmar's Assistance Association of Political Prisoners; Elena Milashina, reporter for Novaya Gazeta, Russia's leading independent newspaper; and Mathilde Muhindo, women's rights activist working to stop sexual violence in Democratic Republic of Congo.
HRW said the four winners have worked to uphold freedom of expression, to protect women in conflict and to ease the plight of political prisoners despite threats and persecution from the authorities.
The group, based in New York, said awards are named for Dr. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to Human Rights Watch's Africa Division for almost two decades, who died in a Feb. 12 plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y. HRW says Des Forges was the world's leading expert on Rwanda, the 1994 genocide and its aftermath.
Published: Oct. 7, 2009 at 12:31 PM
NEW YORK, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Four human rights activists -- one each from Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Russia -- have received human rights awards, advocates said.
The Alison Des Forges Defender awards are given for extraordinary activism, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
The four winners of this year's awards were Daniel Bekele, lawyer and activist from Ethiopia; Bo Kyi, co-founder of Myanmar's Assistance Association of Political Prisoners; Elena Milashina, reporter for Novaya Gazeta, Russia's leading independent newspaper; and Mathilde Muhindo, women's rights activist working to stop sexual violence in Democratic Republic of Congo.
HRW said the four winners have worked to uphold freedom of expression, to protect women in conflict and to ease the plight of political prisoners despite threats and persecution from the authorities.
The group, based in New York, said awards are named for Dr. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to Human Rights Watch's Africa Division for almost two decades, who died in a Feb. 12 plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y. HRW says Des Forges was the world's leading expert on Rwanda, the 1994 genocide and its aftermath.
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The Oneida Daily Dispatch - Utica College hosting visiting Burmese monks
Published: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
UTICA — Utica College, in collaboration with the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, will host two leaders of the Burmese uprising who took to the streets in the summer of 2007 to protest the brutal military regime controlling that country.
Members of the All Burma Monks Alliance led the popular uprising after government officials raised prices for basic commodities and continued their brutal repression of the Burmese people.
The Saffron Revolution, so named for the brightly colored robes donned by the monks as they protested in the streets, was brutally put down by the military junta and many fled the country in its aftermath. Estimates vary, but some human rights groups believe thousands of Burmese were killed by the military.
The repression in the streets is the subject of the film “Burma VJ,” which will be screened at Utica College after a presentation by U Pyinnya Zawta and Pyinnya Thiri, both members of the All Burma Monks Alliance who helped lead the protests and who witnessed the brutal crackdown by the military. The film, by Danish filmmaker Anders Ostergaard, chronicles the protests and the repression that followed through the lenses of intrepid video journalists who filmed the scenes at great risk to their personal safety and even their lives.
The presentation and the screening of the film are free and open to the public and will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8 in Macfarlane Auditorium, DePerno Hall. Jeff Miller, associate professor of communications and director of the FILM@UC series, thinks the opportunity to learn about the plight of the Burmese transcends film and he looks forward to the discourse it might engender.
“I’m hoping it opens up a dialogue,” he said. “I’m hoping they talk about their harrowing escape from Burma and I’m hoping the students will ask probing questions.”
Published: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
UTICA — Utica College, in collaboration with the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, will host two leaders of the Burmese uprising who took to the streets in the summer of 2007 to protest the brutal military regime controlling that country.
Members of the All Burma Monks Alliance led the popular uprising after government officials raised prices for basic commodities and continued their brutal repression of the Burmese people.
The Saffron Revolution, so named for the brightly colored robes donned by the monks as they protested in the streets, was brutally put down by the military junta and many fled the country in its aftermath. Estimates vary, but some human rights groups believe thousands of Burmese were killed by the military.
The repression in the streets is the subject of the film “Burma VJ,” which will be screened at Utica College after a presentation by U Pyinnya Zawta and Pyinnya Thiri, both members of the All Burma Monks Alliance who helped lead the protests and who witnessed the brutal crackdown by the military. The film, by Danish filmmaker Anders Ostergaard, chronicles the protests and the repression that followed through the lenses of intrepid video journalists who filmed the scenes at great risk to their personal safety and even their lives.
The presentation and the screening of the film are free and open to the public and will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8 in Macfarlane Auditorium, DePerno Hall. Jeff Miller, associate professor of communications and director of the FILM@UC series, thinks the opportunity to learn about the plight of the Burmese transcends film and he looks forward to the discourse it might engender.
“I’m hoping it opens up a dialogue,” he said. “I’m hoping they talk about their harrowing escape from Burma and I’m hoping the students will ask probing questions.”
***********************************************************
Hidustan Times - B'desh steps up troops deployment on Myanmar border amid row
Press Trust Of India
Dhaka, October 07, 2009
Last Updated: 20:23 IST(7/10/2009)
Amid growing diplomatic tension between Bangladesh and Myanmar, Dhaka has reinforced troops deployment along the border with its eastern neighbour as it protested against erecting of a border fence by Yangon.
The border guard Bangladesh Rifles has cancelled all but essential leaves as tension mounted along the Naikhyangchhari border in Bandarban after Myanmar resumed border fencing on Friday. Myanmar also reinforced army deployment on its side of the border.
The Home Ministry asked the Director General of the Bangladesh Rifles to keep their forces "on alert" along the border.
"Troop deployment in the border has been reinforced and all but essential leaves of BDR personnel have been cancelled," Major General Mohammad Mainul Islam, Director General of the Bangladesh Rifles, was quoted as saying by the New Age newspaper on Wednesday.
Islam said BDR troops had been deployed along sensitive areas in the border and other preparation had also been made.
Dhaka may need to resume diplomatic efforts to stop intrusion of Myanmar citizens into the Bangladesh territory seeking shelter or employment, a home ministry official said, adding intrusion into Bangladesh was damaging the country's overseas labour market and reputation of its workers.
"Most of the illegal migrant workers, including boatmen in Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban and other places along the Bangladesh coast are Myanmar citizens," a source said, quoting an intelligence agency report.
Press Trust Of India
Dhaka, October 07, 2009
Last Updated: 20:23 IST(7/10/2009)
Amid growing diplomatic tension between Bangladesh and Myanmar, Dhaka has reinforced troops deployment along the border with its eastern neighbour as it protested against erecting of a border fence by Yangon.
The border guard Bangladesh Rifles has cancelled all but essential leaves as tension mounted along the Naikhyangchhari border in Bandarban after Myanmar resumed border fencing on Friday. Myanmar also reinforced army deployment on its side of the border.
The Home Ministry asked the Director General of the Bangladesh Rifles to keep their forces "on alert" along the border.
"Troop deployment in the border has been reinforced and all but essential leaves of BDR personnel have been cancelled," Major General Mohammad Mainul Islam, Director General of the Bangladesh Rifles, was quoted as saying by the New Age newspaper on Wednesday.
Islam said BDR troops had been deployed along sensitive areas in the border and other preparation had also been made.
Dhaka may need to resume diplomatic efforts to stop intrusion of Myanmar citizens into the Bangladesh territory seeking shelter or employment, a home ministry official said, adding intrusion into Bangladesh was damaging the country's overseas labour market and reputation of its workers.
"Most of the illegal migrant workers, including boatmen in Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban and other places along the Bangladesh coast are Myanmar citizens," a source said, quoting an intelligence agency report.
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Monsters and Critics - Report: Tension mounts on Bangladesh-Myanmar border
South Asia News
Oct 7, 2009, 6:50 GMT
Dhaka - Tension has mounted along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border after Myanmar military authorities resumed the construction of border fences, newspaper reports said Wednesday.
Bangladesh has reinforced its paramilitary troops along the south-eastern border in the hilly Bandarban district, canceling troopers' leaves, the English-language New Age newspaper reported quoting a top official of the Bangladesh Rifles border force.
'Troop deployment at the border has been reinforced and all-but-essential leaves of BDR personnel have been cancelled,' chief of the paramilitary force Major General Mohammad Mainul Islam was quoted by the paper as saying.
He said the BDR troops had been deployed along sensitive areas on the border and other preparations had been made.
The recent troubles between the two neighbouring countries started in November 2008 when a Myanmar naval ship allegedly intruded into Bangladesh's territorial waters for hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh, which also sent warships into the bay to counter the alleged intrusion at that time, had managed to defuse tension after involving China in negotiations.
Bangladesh also resumed negotiation with Myanmar to define their maritime borders in 2008, after about three decades of uncertainty, but a series of discussions are yet to make any headway in resolving the issue.
The tension surged again when Myanmar began erecting barbed-wire fencing along the border with Bangladesh early this year. It was stopped after Dhaka sent a note of protest to Yangon.
But the Yangon authorities resumed the fencing project again recently and also deployed troop reinforcements on their side of the border, according to Bangladesh intelligence reports.
South Asia News
Oct 7, 2009, 6:50 GMT
Dhaka - Tension has mounted along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border after Myanmar military authorities resumed the construction of border fences, newspaper reports said Wednesday.
Bangladesh has reinforced its paramilitary troops along the south-eastern border in the hilly Bandarban district, canceling troopers' leaves, the English-language New Age newspaper reported quoting a top official of the Bangladesh Rifles border force.
'Troop deployment at the border has been reinforced and all-but-essential leaves of BDR personnel have been cancelled,' chief of the paramilitary force Major General Mohammad Mainul Islam was quoted by the paper as saying.
He said the BDR troops had been deployed along sensitive areas on the border and other preparations had been made.
The recent troubles between the two neighbouring countries started in November 2008 when a Myanmar naval ship allegedly intruded into Bangladesh's territorial waters for hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh, which also sent warships into the bay to counter the alleged intrusion at that time, had managed to defuse tension after involving China in negotiations.
Bangladesh also resumed negotiation with Myanmar to define their maritime borders in 2008, after about three decades of uncertainty, but a series of discussions are yet to make any headway in resolving the issue.
The tension surged again when Myanmar began erecting barbed-wire fencing along the border with Bangladesh early this year. It was stopped after Dhaka sent a note of protest to Yangon.
But the Yangon authorities resumed the fencing project again recently and also deployed troop reinforcements on their side of the border, according to Bangladesh intelligence reports.
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Myanmar steps up security measures in industrial zones after bomb explosions
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-07 12:29:09
YANGON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar authorities have stepped up security measures in industrial zones in suburban Yangon following seven series of bomb explosions within two days in three industrial zones in the former capital last month, sources with the industrial zones administration said on Wednesday.
The security measures cover the addition of more street lighting factory-wise in the zones, increase of patrolling by security staff and asking help from the police force for inaccessible areas.
A series of seven small bombs blast in different outskirts in Yangon on Sept. 16-17 without causing casualties but slight damage.
The bombs exploded at different locations in the industrial zones of Hlaingtharya, Shwepaukan and Mingalardon townships at some intervals within four hours' duration from mid-night to next morning.
Another bomb, suspected to be a time-bomb, was seized at the Mingalardon industrial zone in Yangon but was defused by the authorities, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have arrested some members of various anti-government organizations for allegedly plotting riots and sabotage in the country during this year.
These anti-government group members, charged with instigating unrest and terrorist attacks during the year in collaboration with the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), included two members of the All Arakan Students and Youth Congress (AASYC) and some individuals.
Among them was Nyi Nyi Aung with naturalized U.S. citizenship, who entered Myanmar for eight times and was charged with creating anti-government mass movement, especially a planned uprising in September involving monks.
The authorities linked Nyi Nyi Aung with the above series of seven bomb blasts in the three industrial zones.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-07 12:29:09
YANGON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar authorities have stepped up security measures in industrial zones in suburban Yangon following seven series of bomb explosions within two days in three industrial zones in the former capital last month, sources with the industrial zones administration said on Wednesday.
The security measures cover the addition of more street lighting factory-wise in the zones, increase of patrolling by security staff and asking help from the police force for inaccessible areas.
A series of seven small bombs blast in different outskirts in Yangon on Sept. 16-17 without causing casualties but slight damage.
The bombs exploded at different locations in the industrial zones of Hlaingtharya, Shwepaukan and Mingalardon townships at some intervals within four hours' duration from mid-night to next morning.
Another bomb, suspected to be a time-bomb, was seized at the Mingalardon industrial zone in Yangon but was defused by the authorities, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have arrested some members of various anti-government organizations for allegedly plotting riots and sabotage in the country during this year.
These anti-government group members, charged with instigating unrest and terrorist attacks during the year in collaboration with the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), included two members of the All Arakan Students and Youth Congress (AASYC) and some individuals.
Among them was Nyi Nyi Aung with naturalized U.S. citizenship, who entered Myanmar for eight times and was charged with creating anti-government mass movement, especially a planned uprising in September involving monks.
The authorities linked Nyi Nyi Aung with the above series of seven bomb blasts in the three industrial zones.
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Unemployed Myanmar workers return from abroad
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-07 11:04:23
By Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- A total of 188 Myanmar workers, including women, who were unemployed in Malaysia, have returned to Myanmar under the arrangement of the two countries, sources with overseas employment agencies said on Wednesday.
A large number of Myanmar citizens left the country for jobs over the past few years and were mostly destined to South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Qatar and Dubai in addition to Malaysia.
Further arrangements are being made to bring back the remaining2,700 Myanmar workers meeting job difficulties in the Southeast Asian member country, the sources said.
According to the sources, the government is creating jobs at home for the returnees, outlining some agricultural work including oil palm growing.
In December last year, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein urged the country's citizens working abroad to come back home for jobs when they are unemployed there out of global financial crisis.
"As workers are still in demand in teak plantation, timber extraction, fisheries and salt industry, jobs are ready for Myanmar nationals who will come back home when they are out of work abroad," Thein Sein said.
"The impact of global financial crisis on Myanmar is insignificant. More jobs will emerge if the entire national people make concerted efforts in all seriousness, and this will undeniably fulfill the food, cloth, shelter needs of the people," he said, adding that " As the nation has been able to make progress on the basis of own strength, own capital and own education and knowledge even though it has been subject to economic sanctions imposed by Western nations, it will in no way ignore the interest of the national people".
He assured that the government's three ministries of foreign affairs, labor and agriculture and irrigation are ready to help those who come back home on account of losing their jobs abroad.
He also said the global financial crisis does not affect the demand and products that can be exported as much as it can produce, saying that the main export markets of the country are neighboring ones in Asia and the main export items are foodstuff -- rice, beans and pulses, and meat and fish.
Pointing out that Myanmar has no contact with West bloc banks and monetary organizations, he held that there will be no loss in the monetary sector as the foreign loans are few compared with other countries.
He also denied economic effect on the country as the government is building infrastructures on self-reliant basis with its own technology and money.
He welcomes those out of 2 million Myanmar workers working abroad illegally to return home for employment.
In most recent years, the Myanmar government worked to seek about 50,000 jobs abroad for its country people annually.
Through 70 local overseas employment agencies making contacts foreign nations, the 50,000 overseas jobs opportunities were created, local reports said.
The Ministry of Labor set each of the overseas employment agencies to generate 100 jobs annually, it said, adding that the majority of Myanmar migrant workers got employed in Malaysia's factories, workshops, restaurants and hotels, and construction projects while higher-educated workers won jobs in Singapore.
Along with the two southeast Asian countries, Qatar and Dubai also stand destinations for the agents to send Myanmar migratory workers. Over the past two years, the government issued temporary passports for Myanmar workers to work in neighboring Thailand and more such workers were encouraged to do so under bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
According to earlier report, of about 300,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, only 80,000 hold official labor cards issued by the Thai Labor Ministry, while about 120,000 have only stay visas and the rest or 100,000 are living in that country without having any legal documents.
It was warned that some illegal Myanmar workers in Thailand are facing labor exploitation by human traffickers who gave false promise of finding lucrative jobs in other countries.
The Myanmar labor authorities urged the country's migrant workers to go through formal procedures to get jobs in Thailand to prevent from being deceived by such traffickers.
Overseas employment statistics show that Myanmar migratory workers mostly sought overseas jobs in Singapore during the period between 1996 and 2001 and the number working in the country reduced starting 2001 with Malaysia becoming the market for overseas employment.
According to earlier local report which quoted Malaysian official sources, Myanmar migratory workers accounted for the majority out of 1.84 million overseas workers working in Malaysia.
In 2005, Myanmar allowed for the first time overseas job seekers to work in Qatar in the Middle East, a region once the country considered too dangerous and too susceptible to unrest for Myanmar workers.
More than 500 Myanmar workers arrived Qatar annually since then where demand for labor is high, overseas employment agencies said.
The government's opening up of the overseas job opportunity to work in Qatar came after the launching in January 2005 of a direct flight to Yangon by the Qatar Airways, which stands the region's airline.
In the past few decades, Myanmar has been encouraging its people to work overseas as part of its bid to ease domestic employment problem, and thousands of Myanmar job seekers worked in Asian countries with the majority in Malaysia, followed by in South Korea, Singapore and Japan.
Meanwhile, Myanmar seafarers working in overseas shipping lines have increased in recent years. According to official statistics, of the 60,000 registered seafarers in Myanmar, over 12,000 work in overseas shipping lines, up from only 9,000 in 1996.
Meanwhile, under an agreement reached between the Myanmar Foreign Ministry and the Thai Labor Ministry in 2007, Thailand offered to grant 10,000 Myanmar workers to work in industries, factories and restaurants in Thailand. In this regard, the Myanmar authorities have opened temporary passport issuing offices in three border towns of Myawaddy, Kawthoung and Tachilek linking Thailand to facilitate Myanmar workers to work in that country crossing border.
According to earlier Thai statistics, there are 500,000 to 600,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand accounting for 80 percent of the total.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-07 11:04:23
By Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- A total of 188 Myanmar workers, including women, who were unemployed in Malaysia, have returned to Myanmar under the arrangement of the two countries, sources with overseas employment agencies said on Wednesday.
A large number of Myanmar citizens left the country for jobs over the past few years and were mostly destined to South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Qatar and Dubai in addition to Malaysia.
Further arrangements are being made to bring back the remaining2,700 Myanmar workers meeting job difficulties in the Southeast Asian member country, the sources said.
According to the sources, the government is creating jobs at home for the returnees, outlining some agricultural work including oil palm growing.
In December last year, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein urged the country's citizens working abroad to come back home for jobs when they are unemployed there out of global financial crisis.
"As workers are still in demand in teak plantation, timber extraction, fisheries and salt industry, jobs are ready for Myanmar nationals who will come back home when they are out of work abroad," Thein Sein said.
"The impact of global financial crisis on Myanmar is insignificant. More jobs will emerge if the entire national people make concerted efforts in all seriousness, and this will undeniably fulfill the food, cloth, shelter needs of the people," he said, adding that " As the nation has been able to make progress on the basis of own strength, own capital and own education and knowledge even though it has been subject to economic sanctions imposed by Western nations, it will in no way ignore the interest of the national people".
He assured that the government's three ministries of foreign affairs, labor and agriculture and irrigation are ready to help those who come back home on account of losing their jobs abroad.
He also said the global financial crisis does not affect the demand and products that can be exported as much as it can produce, saying that the main export markets of the country are neighboring ones in Asia and the main export items are foodstuff -- rice, beans and pulses, and meat and fish.
Pointing out that Myanmar has no contact with West bloc banks and monetary organizations, he held that there will be no loss in the monetary sector as the foreign loans are few compared with other countries.
He also denied economic effect on the country as the government is building infrastructures on self-reliant basis with its own technology and money.
He welcomes those out of 2 million Myanmar workers working abroad illegally to return home for employment.
In most recent years, the Myanmar government worked to seek about 50,000 jobs abroad for its country people annually.
Through 70 local overseas employment agencies making contacts foreign nations, the 50,000 overseas jobs opportunities were created, local reports said.
The Ministry of Labor set each of the overseas employment agencies to generate 100 jobs annually, it said, adding that the majority of Myanmar migrant workers got employed in Malaysia's factories, workshops, restaurants and hotels, and construction projects while higher-educated workers won jobs in Singapore.
Along with the two southeast Asian countries, Qatar and Dubai also stand destinations for the agents to send Myanmar migratory workers. Over the past two years, the government issued temporary passports for Myanmar workers to work in neighboring Thailand and more such workers were encouraged to do so under bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
According to earlier report, of about 300,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, only 80,000 hold official labor cards issued by the Thai Labor Ministry, while about 120,000 have only stay visas and the rest or 100,000 are living in that country without having any legal documents.
It was warned that some illegal Myanmar workers in Thailand are facing labor exploitation by human traffickers who gave false promise of finding lucrative jobs in other countries.
The Myanmar labor authorities urged the country's migrant workers to go through formal procedures to get jobs in Thailand to prevent from being deceived by such traffickers.
Overseas employment statistics show that Myanmar migratory workers mostly sought overseas jobs in Singapore during the period between 1996 and 2001 and the number working in the country reduced starting 2001 with Malaysia becoming the market for overseas employment.
According to earlier local report which quoted Malaysian official sources, Myanmar migratory workers accounted for the majority out of 1.84 million overseas workers working in Malaysia.
In 2005, Myanmar allowed for the first time overseas job seekers to work in Qatar in the Middle East, a region once the country considered too dangerous and too susceptible to unrest for Myanmar workers.
More than 500 Myanmar workers arrived Qatar annually since then where demand for labor is high, overseas employment agencies said.
The government's opening up of the overseas job opportunity to work in Qatar came after the launching in January 2005 of a direct flight to Yangon by the Qatar Airways, which stands the region's airline.
In the past few decades, Myanmar has been encouraging its people to work overseas as part of its bid to ease domestic employment problem, and thousands of Myanmar job seekers worked in Asian countries with the majority in Malaysia, followed by in South Korea, Singapore and Japan.
Meanwhile, Myanmar seafarers working in overseas shipping lines have increased in recent years. According to official statistics, of the 60,000 registered seafarers in Myanmar, over 12,000 work in overseas shipping lines, up from only 9,000 in 1996.
Meanwhile, under an agreement reached between the Myanmar Foreign Ministry and the Thai Labor Ministry in 2007, Thailand offered to grant 10,000 Myanmar workers to work in industries, factories and restaurants in Thailand. In this regard, the Myanmar authorities have opened temporary passport issuing offices in three border towns of Myawaddy, Kawthoung and Tachilek linking Thailand to facilitate Myanmar workers to work in that country crossing border.
According to earlier Thai statistics, there are 500,000 to 600,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand accounting for 80 percent of the total.
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Xinhua - Tiger Population Declines to Less than 100 in Myanmar
2009-10-07 19:51:10 Web Editor: Xu Leiying
The number of tigers taking sanctuary in Myanmar's Hukuang Tiger Reserve has declined to less than 100 from 150 in the previous years, sources with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said on Wednesday.
The fall in the tiger population was attributed to the killing of preys by hunters for human consumption or illegal trading in the area, resulting in the scarcity of food for tigers as well as to the use of tigers' bones and its body parts by medical practitioners in producing traditional medicines, the sources said, adding that the expansion of forest plantations have also made the tigers lost their natural sanctuaries.
As a preventive measure against tiger extinction, informative seminars and talks are being held at the region, it said.
In Myanmar, two kinds of Bengal and Indochina tigers are found taking sanctuary in mangrove plantations, grass field, icy region, pine forest and tropical evergreen forest.
Myanmar established the Hukuang Tiger Reserve in northernmost Kachin state in 2004, which covers an area of about 22,000 square kilometers, and is claimed the largest of its kind in the world.
Since 1988, the New York-based WCS and Myanmar ministry of forestry have been cooperating in tiger data collection with the use of camera trap as well as modern scientific method.
In the wake of tiger extinction threat, Myanmar wildlife police and forest rangers have planned to step up combating wildlife trade and crimes in the tiger reserve and special training programs have been introduced jointly by the Myanmar forest ministry and the WCS.
The authorities have called for creating a balance between the needs of local communities and the wildlife, which constitutes one of the major challenges for them.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have warned traditional medicine practitioners in the country to avoid using tiger bones in producing their medicinal products to help conserve endangered animal species.
As tiger has been prescribed as "completely protected" under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas Law since 1994, the ministry urged the practitioners to keep away from such practice, otherwise such species would vanish in the country.
Myanmar was estimated to have over 3,000 Bengal and Indochina tigers by 1980, the second in Asia after India, according to experts.
2009-10-07 19:51:10 Web Editor: Xu Leiying
The number of tigers taking sanctuary in Myanmar's Hukuang Tiger Reserve has declined to less than 100 from 150 in the previous years, sources with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said on Wednesday.
The fall in the tiger population was attributed to the killing of preys by hunters for human consumption or illegal trading in the area, resulting in the scarcity of food for tigers as well as to the use of tigers' bones and its body parts by medical practitioners in producing traditional medicines, the sources said, adding that the expansion of forest plantations have also made the tigers lost their natural sanctuaries.
As a preventive measure against tiger extinction, informative seminars and talks are being held at the region, it said.
In Myanmar, two kinds of Bengal and Indochina tigers are found taking sanctuary in mangrove plantations, grass field, icy region, pine forest and tropical evergreen forest.
Myanmar established the Hukuang Tiger Reserve in northernmost Kachin state in 2004, which covers an area of about 22,000 square kilometers, and is claimed the largest of its kind in the world.
Since 1988, the New York-based WCS and Myanmar ministry of forestry have been cooperating in tiger data collection with the use of camera trap as well as modern scientific method.
In the wake of tiger extinction threat, Myanmar wildlife police and forest rangers have planned to step up combating wildlife trade and crimes in the tiger reserve and special training programs have been introduced jointly by the Myanmar forest ministry and the WCS.
The authorities have called for creating a balance between the needs of local communities and the wildlife, which constitutes one of the major challenges for them.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have warned traditional medicine practitioners in the country to avoid using tiger bones in producing their medicinal products to help conserve endangered animal species.
As tiger has been prescribed as "completely protected" under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas Law since 1994, the ministry urged the practitioners to keep away from such practice, otherwise such species would vanish in the country.
Myanmar was estimated to have over 3,000 Bengal and Indochina tigers by 1980, the second in Asia after India, according to experts.
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Bangladesh Urges Myanmar To Establish Direct Banking Link For Trade Expansion
October 6, 2009 8:06 p.m. EST
Siddique Islam - AHN Correspondent
Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Bangladesh has requested Myanmar to directly open letters of credit (LCs) with its commercial banks to boost bilateral trade activities between the two countries.
"We've requested the visiting Myanmar delegation to encourage their exporters to take initiatives for opening LCs with commercial banks of Bangladesh directly rather than by any third country," Senior Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Khandakar Muzharul Haque told AHN Media in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The visiting Myanmar expert-level delegation assured Bangladesh they will solve the issue through discussion with their trade bodies, banks and other related stakeholders.
The assurance was made at a wrap-up meeting with the officials of the central bank of Bangladesh, held at the conference room of the BB in Dhaka on Tuesday, the central bank officials said.
Currently, the two neighboring countries settle trade payments through a third country like Singapore or Thailand.
During the two-day long talks, the Myanmar delegation asked the local commercial banks to keep sufficient funds in the foreign currency account, officially known as NOSTRO accounts, to make payments timely.
Local bankers and the BB officials informed the Myanmar delegation that there is no scope of shortage of fund which may cause the delay of payment under the existing Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism.
The ACU is an arrangement comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among the participating central banks on a multilateral basis.
"We place our funds with the central bank of Bangladesh and then the BB sends advice to the related member central banks to credit the funds with the commercial banks,"
Deputy Managing Director of National Credit and Commerce Bank Limited SM Shamsul Alam told AHN in Dhaka while explaining the ACU mechanism. Mr. Alam attended the meeting between the visiting four-member Myanmar delegation four representatives of commercial banks of Bangladesh on Monday.
The meeting also discussed increasing bilateral trade activities between the two countries using ACU mechanism, the BB officials and bankers confirmed.
The volume of bilateral trade between the two countries has been rather 'insignificant' for years because of lack of proper initiatives. The balance of trade, according to officials, has remained in favour of Myanmar over the past 13 years.
However, a review of bilateral trade between the two countries shows that the trade balance was in favor of Bangladesh from 1991-92 to 1995-96. But in 1996-97, it tilted in favour of the Southeast Asian country.
Dhaka exported goods and commodities worth only $9.17 million to Yangon in fiscal year 2008-09 while its imports during the period stood at $66.49 million.
Bangladesh mainly exports pharmaceutical products, leather, woven garments and other manufacturing goods to Myanmar and imports wood articles, vegetable products, processed food and fish.
October 6, 2009 8:06 p.m. EST
Siddique Islam - AHN Correspondent
Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Bangladesh has requested Myanmar to directly open letters of credit (LCs) with its commercial banks to boost bilateral trade activities between the two countries.
"We've requested the visiting Myanmar delegation to encourage their exporters to take initiatives for opening LCs with commercial banks of Bangladesh directly rather than by any third country," Senior Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Khandakar Muzharul Haque told AHN Media in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The visiting Myanmar expert-level delegation assured Bangladesh they will solve the issue through discussion with their trade bodies, banks and other related stakeholders.
The assurance was made at a wrap-up meeting with the officials of the central bank of Bangladesh, held at the conference room of the BB in Dhaka on Tuesday, the central bank officials said.
Currently, the two neighboring countries settle trade payments through a third country like Singapore or Thailand.
During the two-day long talks, the Myanmar delegation asked the local commercial banks to keep sufficient funds in the foreign currency account, officially known as NOSTRO accounts, to make payments timely.
Local bankers and the BB officials informed the Myanmar delegation that there is no scope of shortage of fund which may cause the delay of payment under the existing Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism.
The ACU is an arrangement comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among the participating central banks on a multilateral basis.
"We place our funds with the central bank of Bangladesh and then the BB sends advice to the related member central banks to credit the funds with the commercial banks,"
Deputy Managing Director of National Credit and Commerce Bank Limited SM Shamsul Alam told AHN in Dhaka while explaining the ACU mechanism. Mr. Alam attended the meeting between the visiting four-member Myanmar delegation four representatives of commercial banks of Bangladesh on Monday.
The meeting also discussed increasing bilateral trade activities between the two countries using ACU mechanism, the BB officials and bankers confirmed.
The volume of bilateral trade between the two countries has been rather 'insignificant' for years because of lack of proper initiatives. The balance of trade, according to officials, has remained in favour of Myanmar over the past 13 years.
However, a review of bilateral trade between the two countries shows that the trade balance was in favor of Bangladesh from 1991-92 to 1995-96. But in 1996-97, it tilted in favour of the Southeast Asian country.
Dhaka exported goods and commodities worth only $9.17 million to Yangon in fiscal year 2008-09 while its imports during the period stood at $66.49 million.
Bangladesh mainly exports pharmaceutical products, leather, woven garments and other manufacturing goods to Myanmar and imports wood articles, vegetable products, processed food and fish.
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Wednesday, October 07, 2009
The Gossip Girls (blog) - Marion Cotillard Calls for Aung San Suu Ky’s Release
Stepping out for what she believes in, Marion Cotillard attended a silent gathering to support Myanmar detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Paris on Tuesday evening (October 6).
Held in front of the Paris city hall, the event saw supporters each lighting a candle and observing a moment of meditation to mark their support for the former Nobel Peace Prize winner.
According to French reports, the demonstration was organized with the assistance of Information Burma, the FIDH, Amnesty International, Collective S.O.S for Aung San Suu Kyi, the League of the Human rights and Human Rights Watch.
Leading the solemn event was Jane Birkin, who declared yesterday evening: “All the actions, even those which can appear most negligible, most ridiculous, are actually important.”
The Gossip Girls (blog) - Marion Cotillard Calls for Aung San Suu Ky’s Release
Stepping out for what she believes in, Marion Cotillard attended a silent gathering to support Myanmar detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Paris on Tuesday evening (October 6).
Held in front of the Paris city hall, the event saw supporters each lighting a candle and observing a moment of meditation to mark their support for the former Nobel Peace Prize winner.
According to French reports, the demonstration was organized with the assistance of Information Burma, the FIDH, Amnesty International, Collective S.O.S for Aung San Suu Kyi, the League of the Human rights and Human Rights Watch.
Leading the solemn event was Jane Birkin, who declared yesterday evening: “All the actions, even those which can appear most negligible, most ridiculous, are actually important.”
***********************************************************
Channel NewsAsia - Suu Kyi, Myanmar's labour minister discuss sanctions
Posted: 07 October 2009 1625 hrs
YANGON: Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Wednesday for a second time in five days with a minister from the ruling military government, a Myanmar official said.
The opposition leader met labour minister Aung Kyi, who is the official liaison between Suu Kyi and the government, for 30-minute talks at a state guest house in Yangon, the official told AFP.
On Saturday the pair met for the first time since January 2008, for talks likely to have centred on how to get sanctions against military-ruled Myanmar lifted, according to her lawyer Nyan Win.
That meeting came a day after Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended house arrest was rejected.
Judges upheld her conviction over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her house in May, earning her an extra 18 months detention and provoking international outrage.
Washington in particular, which recently unveiled a major policy shift to re-engage Myanmar’s government, has repeatedly pressed for the release of Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past 20 years in detention.
The US held its highest-level talks with Myanmar in nearly 10 years last week, but warned against lifting sanctions until there is progress towards democracy.
Suu Kyi herself, who welcomed America's re-engagement, appears to have eased her stance after years of advocating punitive measures against the military government.
It emerged last week that she had written to military leader Than Shwe, offering suggestions for getting Western sanctions lifted.
After the Nobel Laureate met with Aung Kyi at the weekend, her lawyer Nyan Win said he thought that their discussions would be related to her letter.
Posted: 07 October 2009 1625 hrs
YANGON: Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Wednesday for a second time in five days with a minister from the ruling military government, a Myanmar official said.
The opposition leader met labour minister Aung Kyi, who is the official liaison between Suu Kyi and the government, for 30-minute talks at a state guest house in Yangon, the official told AFP.
On Saturday the pair met for the first time since January 2008, for talks likely to have centred on how to get sanctions against military-ruled Myanmar lifted, according to her lawyer Nyan Win.
That meeting came a day after Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended house arrest was rejected.
Judges upheld her conviction over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her house in May, earning her an extra 18 months detention and provoking international outrage.
Washington in particular, which recently unveiled a major policy shift to re-engage Myanmar’s government, has repeatedly pressed for the release of Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past 20 years in detention.
The US held its highest-level talks with Myanmar in nearly 10 years last week, but warned against lifting sanctions until there is progress towards democracy.
Suu Kyi herself, who welcomed America's re-engagement, appears to have eased her stance after years of advocating punitive measures against the military government.
It emerged last week that she had written to military leader Than Shwe, offering suggestions for getting Western sanctions lifted.
After the Nobel Laureate met with Aung Kyi at the weekend, her lawyer Nyan Win said he thought that their discussions would be related to her letter.
***********************************************************
The Atlantic - Pay Attention To Burma
Oct 7 2009, 1:06 pm by Clement Tan
The United States' recent decision to pursue a different tack with Burma has been cited by reports to be the reason for the unusual Chinese rebuke of the Burmese over a recent border spat. According to a recent Inter Press Agency article, the recent Chinese-Burmese border bust up may have been compounded by Chinese concerns over its long-time client state's future relations with the U.S.
Some background: This latest Chinese rebuke comes as the United States has moved rather aggressively in courting Burma in the last few weeks. Following Senator Jim Webb's trip to Burma in August, the U.S has announced a shift in its Burma policy, announcing its plan for engagement with the junta's reclusive leaders must be part of a "sustained process of interaction." This move, which has been strongly supported by Burmese opposition, has been quickly followed by a meeting between Kurt Campbell, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Asia, and Burmese health minister U Thaung on the margins of the UN General Assembly last Tuesday. These are the first such high-level talks in more than a decade.
But should such a contention be taken seriously? Consider the realities: the Chinese have benefited from a flurry of trade sanctions imposed on Burma by the West since 1988. Today, 90 percent of investment in Burma still comes from China, and this is unlikely to change any time soon. It is therefore unlikely the Burmese junta would decide on any dramatic switch of allegiance. The Burmese military junta's interest in a dialogue with the U.S. is, according to the same IPS article, motivated by its main concerns -- to have sanctions lifted, for international humanitarian and development assistance to flow into the country, and to attract foreign investment.
But what is America's interest in engaging Burma? As preemptive action to make sure any rumored nuclear alliance with North Korea remain rumors? Or is the Obama administration just keen to just spread its hippie message of love, peace and joy around the world? Despite the absence of any clear, publicly articulated goals at this point (something Burmese opposition has warned against), whether deliberate and due to strategic reasons or otherwise, U.S. negotiators shouldn't misread the situation as China reacting against America encroaching on its influence. In fact, China's cooperation remains integral in any long term effort to bring Burma into the international fold again.
Rather, it would also be useful to bear in mind how the Chinese tend to only react when their self interests are directly impacted. In this instance, Burmese infighting has spilled into Chinese territory. According to Ian Storey of The Jamestown Foundation, Burma's armed forces routed the Kokang militia (known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army or MNDAA) and, with close links to China, along the Sino-Burmese border in late August, saw over 40 persons killed, and tens of thousands of refugees streaming across the border into China.
While Storey says this incident underscored how the ruling junta is capable of undertaking actions that challenge Beijing's interests, belying characterizations of Burma as a client state of China, it is more likely China is acting in its self interest with the rebuke because the ethnic strife in neighboring Burma has caused a massive refugee situation in China. The nature of the rare rebuke by the Chinese at the end of August that has been followed by another chastising statement from the Chinese last week is testament to this.
And while the implications of this growing divergence could also have significant effects on the border region, as most of the ethnic groups -- especially the Kachin, Kokang and Wa -- in this area have ceasefire agreements with the Burmese junta and have traditional close ties with the Chinese authorities, China has no strategic interests in lecturing Burma beyond the economic disturbances the fighting has caused them.
The Obama administration has so far proven to be astute foreign policy folks with East Asia. The way Team Obama handled North Korea was a sign of their skill in balancing force and concessions that don't compromise America's bargaining position. While it might be legitimate for China to harbor fears of its "waning" influence, to suggest they reacted just to counter increased American influence based on the events of the last few months is to disregard the almost 20-year relationship between Burma and China.
After all, it would take more than just America alone to engage Burma. China is too huge and too significant for America to ignore in any policy on Southeast and East Asia. Because at the end of the day, the only certainty when dealing with isolationist regimes such as Burma and North Korea is uncertainty, but China's hand in this case has shown its influence and the part it has to play in a multilateral reduction of such uncertainty for any successful American foreign policy in Asia. Caution, not paranoia, is key.
Oct 7 2009, 1:06 pm by Clement Tan
The United States' recent decision to pursue a different tack with Burma has been cited by reports to be the reason for the unusual Chinese rebuke of the Burmese over a recent border spat. According to a recent Inter Press Agency article, the recent Chinese-Burmese border bust up may have been compounded by Chinese concerns over its long-time client state's future relations with the U.S.
Some background: This latest Chinese rebuke comes as the United States has moved rather aggressively in courting Burma in the last few weeks. Following Senator Jim Webb's trip to Burma in August, the U.S has announced a shift in its Burma policy, announcing its plan for engagement with the junta's reclusive leaders must be part of a "sustained process of interaction." This move, which has been strongly supported by Burmese opposition, has been quickly followed by a meeting between Kurt Campbell, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Asia, and Burmese health minister U Thaung on the margins of the UN General Assembly last Tuesday. These are the first such high-level talks in more than a decade.
But should such a contention be taken seriously? Consider the realities: the Chinese have benefited from a flurry of trade sanctions imposed on Burma by the West since 1988. Today, 90 percent of investment in Burma still comes from China, and this is unlikely to change any time soon. It is therefore unlikely the Burmese junta would decide on any dramatic switch of allegiance. The Burmese military junta's interest in a dialogue with the U.S. is, according to the same IPS article, motivated by its main concerns -- to have sanctions lifted, for international humanitarian and development assistance to flow into the country, and to attract foreign investment.
But what is America's interest in engaging Burma? As preemptive action to make sure any rumored nuclear alliance with North Korea remain rumors? Or is the Obama administration just keen to just spread its hippie message of love, peace and joy around the world? Despite the absence of any clear, publicly articulated goals at this point (something Burmese opposition has warned against), whether deliberate and due to strategic reasons or otherwise, U.S. negotiators shouldn't misread the situation as China reacting against America encroaching on its influence. In fact, China's cooperation remains integral in any long term effort to bring Burma into the international fold again.
Rather, it would also be useful to bear in mind how the Chinese tend to only react when their self interests are directly impacted. In this instance, Burmese infighting has spilled into Chinese territory. According to Ian Storey of The Jamestown Foundation, Burma's armed forces routed the Kokang militia (known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army or MNDAA) and, with close links to China, along the Sino-Burmese border in late August, saw over 40 persons killed, and tens of thousands of refugees streaming across the border into China.
While Storey says this incident underscored how the ruling junta is capable of undertaking actions that challenge Beijing's interests, belying characterizations of Burma as a client state of China, it is more likely China is acting in its self interest with the rebuke because the ethnic strife in neighboring Burma has caused a massive refugee situation in China. The nature of the rare rebuke by the Chinese at the end of August that has been followed by another chastising statement from the Chinese last week is testament to this.
And while the implications of this growing divergence could also have significant effects on the border region, as most of the ethnic groups -- especially the Kachin, Kokang and Wa -- in this area have ceasefire agreements with the Burmese junta and have traditional close ties with the Chinese authorities, China has no strategic interests in lecturing Burma beyond the economic disturbances the fighting has caused them.
The Obama administration has so far proven to be astute foreign policy folks with East Asia. The way Team Obama handled North Korea was a sign of their skill in balancing force and concessions that don't compromise America's bargaining position. While it might be legitimate for China to harbor fears of its "waning" influence, to suggest they reacted just to counter increased American influence based on the events of the last few months is to disregard the almost 20-year relationship between Burma and China.
After all, it would take more than just America alone to engage Burma. China is too huge and too significant for America to ignore in any policy on Southeast and East Asia. Because at the end of the day, the only certainty when dealing with isolationist regimes such as Burma and North Korea is uncertainty, but China's hand in this case has shown its influence and the part it has to play in a multilateral reduction of such uncertainty for any successful American foreign policy in Asia. Caution, not paranoia, is key.
***********************************************************
Bangkok Post - Burma border clashes likely as poll nears
Published: 7/10/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Thailand needs to guard its border more closely in response to a possible spillover of fighting in Burma ahead of the national election there next year, a former chief of the National Intelligence Agency says.
Vaipot Srinual, also a former deputy permanent secretary for defence, yesterday said Thailand's border security should be better prepared to respond to possible threats or low-scale conflicts between factions inside Burma before the election.
"It is within our rights and capabilities in light of what's going on with our neighbour right now," Gen Vaipot said.
"But at the same time we need to maintain a security dialogue through such mechanisms as the Asean Regional Forum and other non-state actors to better understand and be better understood by our neighbour."
Gen Vaipot yesterday addressed a forum, "Thailand's Position, Role and Policy Towards Burma", organised by the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University.
Burma's main problems involving its approach to democracy and human rights should be resolved internally, he said.
Outsiders, including Thailand, should be on standby in readiness to assist Burma, not pressuring or pushing it on these issues, he said.
Bhornchart Bunnag, director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs under the National Security Council, said Thailand and other countries in the region would have to shoulder the impact of the increasing roles of the superpowers manoeuvring inside Burma.
"Their influence or clash of influences in Burma, be it security, economic or political, and whether [it is] in a negative or a positive light, will affect Thailand in particular," Mr Bhornchart said.
"So we should be better prepared to respond to the problems or to reap the benefit of more economic transactions between foreign countries and Burma."
Mr Bhornchart said Thailand was heavily dependent on Burma for its energy supplies, and this needed to be weighed against the need to call for democracy in that country.
"We need to have a well-balanced approach as there are certain risk factors if we cannot handle our relations with the country now that we rely on our neighbour for more than 20% of our energy supplies," he said.
Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said Thailand, as Asean chair this year, was in a weak position in dealing with Burma but the region and the international community should not succumb to such a scenario.
"If we let the Burmese government lead Asean's voice, the regional organisation will be dragged down to hell in 2010 because it will be Asean's eventual and inevitable job to endorse that non-inclusive and non-credible election," he said.
Thailand should be firmer in differentiating itself from the West's policy toward's Burma, said Sunait Chutintaranond, director of Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Asian Studies.
Published: 7/10/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Thailand needs to guard its border more closely in response to a possible spillover of fighting in Burma ahead of the national election there next year, a former chief of the National Intelligence Agency says.
Vaipot Srinual, also a former deputy permanent secretary for defence, yesterday said Thailand's border security should be better prepared to respond to possible threats or low-scale conflicts between factions inside Burma before the election.
"It is within our rights and capabilities in light of what's going on with our neighbour right now," Gen Vaipot said.
"But at the same time we need to maintain a security dialogue through such mechanisms as the Asean Regional Forum and other non-state actors to better understand and be better understood by our neighbour."
Gen Vaipot yesterday addressed a forum, "Thailand's Position, Role and Policy Towards Burma", organised by the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University.
Burma's main problems involving its approach to democracy and human rights should be resolved internally, he said.
Outsiders, including Thailand, should be on standby in readiness to assist Burma, not pressuring or pushing it on these issues, he said.
Bhornchart Bunnag, director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs under the National Security Council, said Thailand and other countries in the region would have to shoulder the impact of the increasing roles of the superpowers manoeuvring inside Burma.
"Their influence or clash of influences in Burma, be it security, economic or political, and whether [it is] in a negative or a positive light, will affect Thailand in particular," Mr Bhornchart said.
"So we should be better prepared to respond to the problems or to reap the benefit of more economic transactions between foreign countries and Burma."
Mr Bhornchart said Thailand was heavily dependent on Burma for its energy supplies, and this needed to be weighed against the need to call for democracy in that country.
"We need to have a well-balanced approach as there are certain risk factors if we cannot handle our relations with the country now that we rely on our neighbour for more than 20% of our energy supplies," he said.
Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said Thailand, as Asean chair this year, was in a weak position in dealing with Burma but the region and the international community should not succumb to such a scenario.
"If we let the Burmese government lead Asean's voice, the regional organisation will be dragged down to hell in 2010 because it will be Asean's eventual and inevitable job to endorse that non-inclusive and non-credible election," he said.
Thailand should be firmer in differentiating itself from the West's policy toward's Burma, said Sunait Chutintaranond, director of Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Asian Studies.
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The Nation - ASEAN is at the forefront of the Climate Change Challenge
By APICHAI SUNCHINDAH, PETRA PAILIN MUELLER
Published on October 8, 2009
RICH OR POOR, archipelago or landlocked, the effects of climate variability are becoming increasingly perceptible - melting ice and glaciers leading to rising water levels, extreme heat waves inducing forest fires, and intense rainfall causing severe storms and floods.
Southeast Asia is not spared from these effects. The Irrawaddy Delta in Burma was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, resulting in a huge humanitarian relief effort mounted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the United Nations. Recently, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand bore the brunt of Typhoon Ketsana and suffered serious flooding, landslides, and loss of life and property, due to heavy precipitation and strong winds.
Conversely, unusually dry conditions in early 2009 exacerbated land and forest fires to the extent of blanketing the normally pleasant city of Chiang Mai with acrid smoke haze for weeks. Fires in Sumatra and Borneo also covered nearby localities with choking haze. This prompted the Asean environment ministers to meet in mid-August and again in early September to review and implement cooperative actions.
At the global level, the world is gearing up for the UN climate-change negotiations scheduled for December in Copenhagen. With less than two months to go, officials are scurrying to find ways to seal a deal for future joint actions, especially as the current commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Two years ago at the same UN climate-change talks held in Bali, Asean issued a declaration - the plan is to do likewise in the Danish capital. However, this time, more is at stake for Asean and the world.
Latest evidence predicts alarming future consequences if appropriate action is not taken to combat global warming. Densely populated coastal areas of Southeast Asia are particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of climate-related events. The Irrawaddy, Mekong and Red River delta regions, as well as mega-cities like Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok, are classified as "climate hot spots" in terms of vulnerability. The climate-linked hazards experienced by several Asean countries lately underscore the region's risk and the need for better preparedness in the face of such challenges that are only likely to increase in intensity and frequency.
There is, however, hope on the horizon if countries seize the opportunity. The global economic crisis offered ideal prospects for shifting towards a climate-resilient society and low-carbon economy through "green" stimulus packages. The threats caused by the financial downturn and climate change can thus be simultaneously addressed by shoring up economies through job creation and poverty reduction projects while ensuring lower carbon emissions and protecting vulnerable communities.
Some European and East Asian countries have shown that economic growth and environmental sustainability are not antithetical but can coexist. After all, the terms "ecology" and "economics" share the common Greek origin, "oikos", meaning "home" or "household". While ecology is the study of the home environment, economics is the management thereof. Accordingly, good economics should make good ecological sense, and vice versa.
Climate change is an inter-sectoral and transnational issue requiring close regional and global cooperation to ensure effective and timely responses. The Asean environment ministers, at their meeting last month, recognised that stronger inter-governmental policy coordination is urgently needed to address the problem. In this regard, the ministers welcomed the Asean secretary-general's initiative to enhance coordination mechanisms and synergise efforts across relevant sectoral bodies.
Global warming can disrupt social well-being, economic prosperity and political stability. To address this multi-faceted challenge requires the pooling of resources across a broad spectrum and mainstreaming climate change into all concerned sectors in a well coordinated manner.
Leading up to the Copenhagen negotiations, Thailand hosted the "Bangkok Talks", ending this week. In preparation for this, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) assisted the climate negotiating team from some Asean countries in strengthening their capacities in negotiation skills. An Asean multi-sectoral framework focusing on climate change and food security is being developed with GTZ, hopefully for implementation next year. The US is fielding an Asean climate-change advisor to be based at the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta soon. Resources are available from Asean's partners to help fight global warming.
The theme of Asean's anniversary this year is "Green Asean". While this is a step in the right direction, much still needs to be done. The Asean Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution has been in force almost six years, yet remains unratified by Indonesia and the Philippines, thus rendering the framework less effective. Indonesia outside of this Agreement is like the US not joining the Kyoto Protocol. Full participation from key countries is vital and must be enabled.
Asean also needs to examine its own carbon footprints; the convening of some 500 meetings each year translates into significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. At the recent High-Level Summit on Climate Change in New York, the UN estimated the amount of emissions the event generated, and then bought carbon offsets for supporting green projects elsewhere. Asean should do likewise - by using more tele-conferencing instead - if it wishes to earn its green reputation.
Another initiative to consider is fulfilling the "common but differentiated responsibilities", at the regional level. Better-capacitated Asean member countries with high emissions per capita need to reduce their numbers accordingly while assisting others in terms of finance and technology, thus meeting the global objectives towards a low-carbon growth path in an exemplary Asean-helping-Asean way. The Maldives, the low-lying island nation in the Indian Ocean, extremely prone to climate change effects, has declared its intention to be carbon neutral by 2020. Can Asean set similar targets?
Enlightened, proactive leadership and a firm political will are crucial to combating climate change. Thailand, as the current and outgoing Asean chair, has repeatedly expressed the desire to see Asean as a "community of action" that can promptly and decisively respond to challenges and threats affecting the peoples of the region. It is hoped that Vietnam, one of the countries most vulnerable to global warming, will put climate change high on the agenda next year during its term as the Asean chair.
The authors have been affiliated with the German Technical Cooperation office in Thailand. The views expressed here are their own.
By APICHAI SUNCHINDAH, PETRA PAILIN MUELLER
Published on October 8, 2009
RICH OR POOR, archipelago or landlocked, the effects of climate variability are becoming increasingly perceptible - melting ice and glaciers leading to rising water levels, extreme heat waves inducing forest fires, and intense rainfall causing severe storms and floods.
Southeast Asia is not spared from these effects. The Irrawaddy Delta in Burma was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, resulting in a huge humanitarian relief effort mounted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the United Nations. Recently, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand bore the brunt of Typhoon Ketsana and suffered serious flooding, landslides, and loss of life and property, due to heavy precipitation and strong winds.
Conversely, unusually dry conditions in early 2009 exacerbated land and forest fires to the extent of blanketing the normally pleasant city of Chiang Mai with acrid smoke haze for weeks. Fires in Sumatra and Borneo also covered nearby localities with choking haze. This prompted the Asean environment ministers to meet in mid-August and again in early September to review and implement cooperative actions.
At the global level, the world is gearing up for the UN climate-change negotiations scheduled for December in Copenhagen. With less than two months to go, officials are scurrying to find ways to seal a deal for future joint actions, especially as the current commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Two years ago at the same UN climate-change talks held in Bali, Asean issued a declaration - the plan is to do likewise in the Danish capital. However, this time, more is at stake for Asean and the world.
Latest evidence predicts alarming future consequences if appropriate action is not taken to combat global warming. Densely populated coastal areas of Southeast Asia are particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of climate-related events. The Irrawaddy, Mekong and Red River delta regions, as well as mega-cities like Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok, are classified as "climate hot spots" in terms of vulnerability. The climate-linked hazards experienced by several Asean countries lately underscore the region's risk and the need for better preparedness in the face of such challenges that are only likely to increase in intensity and frequency.
There is, however, hope on the horizon if countries seize the opportunity. The global economic crisis offered ideal prospects for shifting towards a climate-resilient society and low-carbon economy through "green" stimulus packages. The threats caused by the financial downturn and climate change can thus be simultaneously addressed by shoring up economies through job creation and poverty reduction projects while ensuring lower carbon emissions and protecting vulnerable communities.
Some European and East Asian countries have shown that economic growth and environmental sustainability are not antithetical but can coexist. After all, the terms "ecology" and "economics" share the common Greek origin, "oikos", meaning "home" or "household". While ecology is the study of the home environment, economics is the management thereof. Accordingly, good economics should make good ecological sense, and vice versa.
Climate change is an inter-sectoral and transnational issue requiring close regional and global cooperation to ensure effective and timely responses. The Asean environment ministers, at their meeting last month, recognised that stronger inter-governmental policy coordination is urgently needed to address the problem. In this regard, the ministers welcomed the Asean secretary-general's initiative to enhance coordination mechanisms and synergise efforts across relevant sectoral bodies.
Global warming can disrupt social well-being, economic prosperity and political stability. To address this multi-faceted challenge requires the pooling of resources across a broad spectrum and mainstreaming climate change into all concerned sectors in a well coordinated manner.
Leading up to the Copenhagen negotiations, Thailand hosted the "Bangkok Talks", ending this week. In preparation for this, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) assisted the climate negotiating team from some Asean countries in strengthening their capacities in negotiation skills. An Asean multi-sectoral framework focusing on climate change and food security is being developed with GTZ, hopefully for implementation next year. The US is fielding an Asean climate-change advisor to be based at the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta soon. Resources are available from Asean's partners to help fight global warming.
The theme of Asean's anniversary this year is "Green Asean". While this is a step in the right direction, much still needs to be done. The Asean Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution has been in force almost six years, yet remains unratified by Indonesia and the Philippines, thus rendering the framework less effective. Indonesia outside of this Agreement is like the US not joining the Kyoto Protocol. Full participation from key countries is vital and must be enabled.
Asean also needs to examine its own carbon footprints; the convening of some 500 meetings each year translates into significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. At the recent High-Level Summit on Climate Change in New York, the UN estimated the amount of emissions the event generated, and then bought carbon offsets for supporting green projects elsewhere. Asean should do likewise - by using more tele-conferencing instead - if it wishes to earn its green reputation.
Another initiative to consider is fulfilling the "common but differentiated responsibilities", at the regional level. Better-capacitated Asean member countries with high emissions per capita need to reduce their numbers accordingly while assisting others in terms of finance and technology, thus meeting the global objectives towards a low-carbon growth path in an exemplary Asean-helping-Asean way. The Maldives, the low-lying island nation in the Indian Ocean, extremely prone to climate change effects, has declared its intention to be carbon neutral by 2020. Can Asean set similar targets?
Enlightened, proactive leadership and a firm political will are crucial to combating climate change. Thailand, as the current and outgoing Asean chair, has repeatedly expressed the desire to see Asean as a "community of action" that can promptly and decisively respond to challenges and threats affecting the peoples of the region. It is hoped that Vietnam, one of the countries most vulnerable to global warming, will put climate change high on the agenda next year during its term as the Asean chair.
The authors have been affiliated with the German Technical Cooperation office in Thailand. The views expressed here are their own.
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The Nation - Strategic corridors for trade in the region
By SASITHORN ONGDEE
Published on October 7, 2009
The Southern Economic Corridor would increase its importance as a transportation route for fabrics, textiles and garments, textile-makers in Thailand and Vietnam said in a survey conducted by the Japan External Trade Organisation.
Cambodia, Laos and Burma are highlighted as production bases for the apparel and garment, commodities, agriculture-related and processing as well as the automobile and electrical-appliance industries that might be shifted from Thailand and Vietnam if connectivity in the Mekong region is completed, according to companies in the Mekong region.
This is part of their strategy for further improvement of connectivity inside and beyond the Mekong region surveyed by Jetro.
Jetro director Masaaki Toma told a logistics seminar last month that the Jetro survey was aimed at grasping the business needs and strategies of Japanese and non-Japanese companies in the Mekong sub-region to identify necessary issues for further promotion of investment and industrial development.
Further development as a textile and garment industries corridor would be promoted through an appropriate division of labour among Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
"Currently, we already transport fabrics from Bangkok to Phnom Penh via road. In the future, it's expected that most of the sea transportation of fabrics and textiles would be substituted by road transportation from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City," textiles-makers in Thailand said in the survey.
Further increases in the transactions of both materials and parts and final products would be facilitated through improved connectivity among three consumption bases - Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh.
"If the cost of land transportation is decreased to a level that is 10 to 20 per cent higher than sea transportation, we would consider substitution from sea to land transportation. Currently, sea transportation from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh takes more than one week by consolidated 40-foot container, but land transportation would be faster," said auto-parts makers in Thailand.
"We have high expectations for the improvement of a land road linking through Cia Mep-Thi Vai Basin, Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, with a view to facilitating the import of products and materials," said a motorcycle-maker in Cambodia.
"The improvement of the bridge over the Mekong River at Neak Lueang is highly anticipated," the textile-maker in Thailand and motorbike-maker in Cambodia said in the survey.
According to the survey, Japan's foreign direct investment to China, Asean and the Mekong region has been on an upturn trend since 2000. Japan's FDI to China and Asean each was more than US$6 billion (Bt202 billion), and to the Mekong region more than $3 billion.
Following the survey, if the road linking Bangkok and Rangoon |were constructed, production |would shift from Thailand and Vietnam to Cambodia, Laos and Burma where
access to the labour market is much easier for apparel and garment companies.
By utilising advantaged primary commodities and the good environment in Cambodia and Laos, further development of agriculture-related, timber and processing industries is expected, Toma said.
If the logistics infrastructure, both soft and hard, were sufficiently improved, auto-parts makers in especially labour-intensive companies could start production where access to the labour market is easier.
There is the possibility for expansion, upgrading and diversification of the motorcycle industry, including localisation of the production process in Cambodia and Laos.
Thailand and Vietnam are two large production bases. The possibility of exporting from Vietnam depends on the degree of progress in local procurement.
Greater Bangkok and the Eastern Seaboard are the major locations for auto and auto-parts makers such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Hino, Matsuda, Bridgestone, Ford and
GM, as well as electrical appliance and machinery makers such as Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Daikin and Yunmar.
Greater Hanoi is a main location for automobile and auto parts and electrical-appliance makers.
However, the hard infrastructure such as sea ports, roads (East-West Economic Corridor and Southern Economic Corridor) inside Vietnam and industrial railways as well as soft infrastructure regarding customs clearance, cross-border transportation and human resources should be improved, the respondents in the Mekong requested region.
The survey was conducted from July to September by interviewing 103 companies in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Singapore. The interviewees were in industries such as automobiles and parts, electrical appliances and parts, textiles and garments, food processing, wood processing, chemicals, steel, tourism, trading, finance and logistics.
By SASITHORN ONGDEE
Published on October 7, 2009
The Southern Economic Corridor would increase its importance as a transportation route for fabrics, textiles and garments, textile-makers in Thailand and Vietnam said in a survey conducted by the Japan External Trade Organisation.
Cambodia, Laos and Burma are highlighted as production bases for the apparel and garment, commodities, agriculture-related and processing as well as the automobile and electrical-appliance industries that might be shifted from Thailand and Vietnam if connectivity in the Mekong region is completed, according to companies in the Mekong region.
This is part of their strategy for further improvement of connectivity inside and beyond the Mekong region surveyed by Jetro.
Jetro director Masaaki Toma told a logistics seminar last month that the Jetro survey was aimed at grasping the business needs and strategies of Japanese and non-Japanese companies in the Mekong sub-region to identify necessary issues for further promotion of investment and industrial development.
Further development as a textile and garment industries corridor would be promoted through an appropriate division of labour among Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
"Currently, we already transport fabrics from Bangkok to Phnom Penh via road. In the future, it's expected that most of the sea transportation of fabrics and textiles would be substituted by road transportation from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City," textiles-makers in Thailand said in the survey.
Further increases in the transactions of both materials and parts and final products would be facilitated through improved connectivity among three consumption bases - Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh.
"If the cost of land transportation is decreased to a level that is 10 to 20 per cent higher than sea transportation, we would consider substitution from sea to land transportation. Currently, sea transportation from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh takes more than one week by consolidated 40-foot container, but land transportation would be faster," said auto-parts makers in Thailand.
"We have high expectations for the improvement of a land road linking through Cia Mep-Thi Vai Basin, Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, with a view to facilitating the import of products and materials," said a motorcycle-maker in Cambodia.
"The improvement of the bridge over the Mekong River at Neak Lueang is highly anticipated," the textile-maker in Thailand and motorbike-maker in Cambodia said in the survey.
According to the survey, Japan's foreign direct investment to China, Asean and the Mekong region has been on an upturn trend since 2000. Japan's FDI to China and Asean each was more than US$6 billion (Bt202 billion), and to the Mekong region more than $3 billion.
Following the survey, if the road linking Bangkok and Rangoon |were constructed, production |would shift from Thailand and Vietnam to Cambodia, Laos and Burma where
access to the labour market is much easier for apparel and garment companies.
By utilising advantaged primary commodities and the good environment in Cambodia and Laos, further development of agriculture-related, timber and processing industries is expected, Toma said.
If the logistics infrastructure, both soft and hard, were sufficiently improved, auto-parts makers in especially labour-intensive companies could start production where access to the labour market is easier.
There is the possibility for expansion, upgrading and diversification of the motorcycle industry, including localisation of the production process in Cambodia and Laos.
Thailand and Vietnam are two large production bases. The possibility of exporting from Vietnam depends on the degree of progress in local procurement.
Greater Bangkok and the Eastern Seaboard are the major locations for auto and auto-parts makers such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Hino, Matsuda, Bridgestone, Ford and
GM, as well as electrical appliance and machinery makers such as Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Daikin and Yunmar.
Greater Hanoi is a main location for automobile and auto parts and electrical-appliance makers.
However, the hard infrastructure such as sea ports, roads (East-West Economic Corridor and Southern Economic Corridor) inside Vietnam and industrial railways as well as soft infrastructure regarding customs clearance, cross-border transportation and human resources should be improved, the respondents in the Mekong requested region.
The survey was conducted from July to September by interviewing 103 companies in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Singapore. The interviewees were in industries such as automobiles and parts, electrical appliances and parts, textiles and garments, food processing, wood processing, chemicals, steel, tourism, trading, finance and logistics.
***********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Thailand: We Won’t Send Back Refugees
By SAW YAN NAING, Wednesday, October 7, 2009
A leading Thai security official predicted on Tuesday that more than 200,000 refugees from Burma would flood into northern Thailand if fighting broke out again in northern Burma, but added that refugees would not be forcibly repatriated, according to a Bangkok-based daily The Nation.
Speaking at a conference on Thailand-Burma relations at Chulalongkorn University, Bhornchart Bunnag, the director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs at the National Security Council, said that the outbreak of hostilities between Burmese government forces and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) could force more than 200,000 refugees into northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
He was quoted by The Nation as saying that Thai border authorities would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas.
“Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary,” he reportedly said.
Bhornchart’s statement is likely to raise eyebrows given the Thai government’s anti-narcotics policy and the fact that the 20,000-strong UWSA is frequently cited as one of the world’s biggest drug trafficking groups, notorious not only for opium and heroin production but for the manufacture of methamphetamines in recent years.
Observers said the Thai authorities will be very busy if Wa civilians in southern Shan State flee into northern Thailand. However, they generally acknowledged that the Thais will probably look to using the situation as part of a plan to eradicate drugs in the region.
Saeng Juen, an editor with the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, said the Thai authorities will accept Wa civilians from a humanitarian perspective, but would move against those they considered linked with the drug trade.
The UWSA’s second in command, Wei Hsueh-Kang, is wanted in Thailand and the United States.
Four years ago, the US indicted eight Wa leaders after a court described the UWSA as “a criminal narcotics trafficking organization.”
Win Min, a Burma expert based in Chiang Mai, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that “Thailand wants Wei Hsueh-Kang, for sure.”
However, he said he doesn’t think an attack against the Wa can put an end to drug trafficking in the region.
“If the entire UWSA collapses, that will be another story,” said Win Min.
Hla Kyaw Zaw, a senior member of the Communist Party of Burma, based on the Sino-Burmese border, however, said that the Burmese government will try to discredit the UWSA leaders as drug traffickers as justification for attacking them.
The UWSA is widely rumored to rely on its drugs profits to maintain its large army and keep it equipped with arms. Its other sources of income are reported to be logging, zinc mining, casinos and taxation.
Thailand recently accepted a wave of refugees from Burma when an influx of some 3,000 to 4,000 displaced Karen were temporarily sheltered in Tha Song Yang District following an offensive by the Burmese government’s troops and their allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, against the Karen National Union (KNU) in June.
However, observers generally agree that the backgrounds of the KNU and the UWSA are very different.
“Thailand will likely agree with the Burmese regime’s attack against the Wa,” said Saeng Juen.
By SAW YAN NAING, Wednesday, October 7, 2009
A leading Thai security official predicted on Tuesday that more than 200,000 refugees from Burma would flood into northern Thailand if fighting broke out again in northern Burma, but added that refugees would not be forcibly repatriated, according to a Bangkok-based daily The Nation.
Speaking at a conference on Thailand-Burma relations at Chulalongkorn University, Bhornchart Bunnag, the director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs at the National Security Council, said that the outbreak of hostilities between Burmese government forces and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) could force more than 200,000 refugees into northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
He was quoted by The Nation as saying that Thai border authorities would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas.
“Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary,” he reportedly said.
Bhornchart’s statement is likely to raise eyebrows given the Thai government’s anti-narcotics policy and the fact that the 20,000-strong UWSA is frequently cited as one of the world’s biggest drug trafficking groups, notorious not only for opium and heroin production but for the manufacture of methamphetamines in recent years.
Observers said the Thai authorities will be very busy if Wa civilians in southern Shan State flee into northern Thailand. However, they generally acknowledged that the Thais will probably look to using the situation as part of a plan to eradicate drugs in the region.
Saeng Juen, an editor with the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, said the Thai authorities will accept Wa civilians from a humanitarian perspective, but would move against those they considered linked with the drug trade.
The UWSA’s second in command, Wei Hsueh-Kang, is wanted in Thailand and the United States.
Four years ago, the US indicted eight Wa leaders after a court described the UWSA as “a criminal narcotics trafficking organization.”
Win Min, a Burma expert based in Chiang Mai, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that “Thailand wants Wei Hsueh-Kang, for sure.”
However, he said he doesn’t think an attack against the Wa can put an end to drug trafficking in the region.
“If the entire UWSA collapses, that will be another story,” said Win Min.
Hla Kyaw Zaw, a senior member of the Communist Party of Burma, based on the Sino-Burmese border, however, said that the Burmese government will try to discredit the UWSA leaders as drug traffickers as justification for attacking them.
The UWSA is widely rumored to rely on its drugs profits to maintain its large army and keep it equipped with arms. Its other sources of income are reported to be logging, zinc mining, casinos and taxation.
Thailand recently accepted a wave of refugees from Burma when an influx of some 3,000 to 4,000 displaced Karen were temporarily sheltered in Tha Song Yang District following an offensive by the Burmese government’s troops and their allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, against the Karen National Union (KNU) in June.
However, observers generally agree that the backgrounds of the KNU and the UWSA are very different.
“Thailand will likely agree with the Burmese regime’s attack against the Wa,” said Saeng Juen.
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The Irrawaddy - Armed Faction Splits from Mon Party
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
About 50 members of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military wing of New Mon State Party (NMSP), have broken away from the Mon party in recent months, according to sources close to the party.
The soldiers are believed to be supported by some party leaders who oppose the junta’s 2010 election.
Mon party leaders are reportedly split on whether or not to participate in the election.
About five members of the NMSP central committee have resigned in recent months following a disagreement among party leaders over the election issue, sources said.
The NMSP signed a cease-fire with the Burmese military in 1995. Since then the numbers of soldiers have been shrinking. The party had an army of about 700 soldiers before.
The Mon party is among 17 cease-fire groups that are being pressured by the regime to transform their troops into a border guard force led by government officers.
At a meeting to discuss the border guard force issue in Moulmein on Aug. 28, Maj-Gen Thet Naing Win, the regional commander of the junta’s Southeast Command, told Mon leaders to order their members not to take part in political campaigns in Thaton District.
According to the junta’s 2008 Constitution, all ethnic cease-fire groups must be controlled by the Burmese government.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
About 50 members of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military wing of New Mon State Party (NMSP), have broken away from the Mon party in recent months, according to sources close to the party.
The soldiers are believed to be supported by some party leaders who oppose the junta’s 2010 election.
Mon party leaders are reportedly split on whether or not to participate in the election.
About five members of the NMSP central committee have resigned in recent months following a disagreement among party leaders over the election issue, sources said.
The NMSP signed a cease-fire with the Burmese military in 1995. Since then the numbers of soldiers have been shrinking. The party had an army of about 700 soldiers before.
The Mon party is among 17 cease-fire groups that are being pressured by the regime to transform their troops into a border guard force led by government officers.
At a meeting to discuss the border guard force issue in Moulmein on Aug. 28, Maj-Gen Thet Naing Win, the regional commander of the junta’s Southeast Command, told Mon leaders to order their members not to take part in political campaigns in Thaton District.
According to the junta’s 2008 Constitution, all ethnic cease-fire groups must be controlled by the Burmese government.
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Campaigners demand global arms embargo against Burma
by Salai Pi Pi
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 21:55
New Delhi (Mizzima) – A veteran Burmese politician on Wednesday appreciated Switzerland’s commitment to support the United Nations arms embargo on Burma’s military regime, even as campaigners seek to shore up a global consensus to overcome opposition by Russia and China at the Security Council.
Switzerland on Monday in a statement said it supports a global arms embargo against Burma’s military rulers and called on all nations to stop exporting armaments to the regime.
Win Tin, a central executive committee member of Burma’s opposition party – the National League for Democracy – echoed Switzerland’s stand saying “Global arms embargo is the best punishment for the ruling regime as it does not impact the people but has a lot of effect on the junta.”
“By having an arms embargo, the people lose nothing but the regime will lose bullets or weapons to suppress the people,” he added.
But he said, he feared that the campaign for a global arms embargo might not be able to overcome the Burmese junta’s allies Russia and China at the UN Security Council, as the two veto wielding countries had earlier blocked a UNSC resolution on Burma in January 2007.
Switzerland, which had introduced an arms embargo on Burma in October 2000, on Monday became the 31st country to join campaigners call to support a global arms embargo on Burma.
The embargo is in keeping with the European Union sanctions against Burma and is being periodically updated, said the statement but called on other countries to stop exporting arms to Burma as only a common action could be effective.
“Thus, Switzerland would welcome and support a coordinated initiative by the European Union and the US at the UN level to stop arms exports to Myanmar [Burma]," the statement said.
Burma Campaign UK said it is working with other campaign groups in building a global consensus on arms embargo on Burma.
Mark Farmaner, Director of the Burma Campaign UK said, despite the US and EU arms embargo, several countries including China, Russia, India, and Israel are continuing to export armaments to the Burmese regime, who use the weapons to crackdown on dissidents.
But Farmaner said the campaign has gained much support though there is still fear that Russia and China would oppose any move at the UNSC to adopt an arms embargo.
“They are going to be the big problem. The only way we can persuade China and Russia not to use veto is to isolate them as the only countries against arms embargo,” Farmaner said.
But he also stressed that in pushing the Burmese regime to implement change, every possible pressure including political, economic and prosecution for crime against humanity, need to be used.
by Salai Pi Pi
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 21:55
New Delhi (Mizzima) – A veteran Burmese politician on Wednesday appreciated Switzerland’s commitment to support the United Nations arms embargo on Burma’s military regime, even as campaigners seek to shore up a global consensus to overcome opposition by Russia and China at the Security Council.
Switzerland on Monday in a statement said it supports a global arms embargo against Burma’s military rulers and called on all nations to stop exporting armaments to the regime.
Win Tin, a central executive committee member of Burma’s opposition party – the National League for Democracy – echoed Switzerland’s stand saying “Global arms embargo is the best punishment for the ruling regime as it does not impact the people but has a lot of effect on the junta.”
“By having an arms embargo, the people lose nothing but the regime will lose bullets or weapons to suppress the people,” he added.
But he said, he feared that the campaign for a global arms embargo might not be able to overcome the Burmese junta’s allies Russia and China at the UN Security Council, as the two veto wielding countries had earlier blocked a UNSC resolution on Burma in January 2007.
Switzerland, which had introduced an arms embargo on Burma in October 2000, on Monday became the 31st country to join campaigners call to support a global arms embargo on Burma.
The embargo is in keeping with the European Union sanctions against Burma and is being periodically updated, said the statement but called on other countries to stop exporting arms to Burma as only a common action could be effective.
“Thus, Switzerland would welcome and support a coordinated initiative by the European Union and the US at the UN level to stop arms exports to Myanmar [Burma]," the statement said.
Burma Campaign UK said it is working with other campaign groups in building a global consensus on arms embargo on Burma.
Mark Farmaner, Director of the Burma Campaign UK said, despite the US and EU arms embargo, several countries including China, Russia, India, and Israel are continuing to export armaments to the Burmese regime, who use the weapons to crackdown on dissidents.
But Farmaner said the campaign has gained much support though there is still fear that Russia and China would oppose any move at the UNSC to adopt an arms embargo.
“They are going to be the big problem. The only way we can persuade China and Russia not to use veto is to isolate them as the only countries against arms embargo,” Farmaner said.
But he also stressed that in pushing the Burmese regime to implement change, every possible pressure including political, economic and prosecution for crime against humanity, need to be used.
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Thailand affected by situation in Burma
by Usa Pichai
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 14:21
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The ongoing conflict between the Burmese Army and ethnic armed groups and Thailand’s energy dependence on its neighbour has significantly affected Thai security policy and bilateral relations between the two countries, according to a conference in Bangkok.
Bhornchart Bunnag , Director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs and Defence at the National Security Council (NSC) said in a conference at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok on Tuesday that Thailand was affected the most by the situations in Burma. The bilateral policy has many angles which need to be considered.
“Thailand’s policy towards Burma has changed in the past few years. These include development projects that would link it with Burma China and Lao. It would not only affect trading but could lead to more trans-border crimes. We should prepare for that eventuality,” he said.
“In addition, Thailand is dependent on energy resources from neighbouring countries particularly Lao and Burma. It increasingly affects security and bilateral affairs,” Bhornchart said at the conference.
The conference “Thailand’s Position, Roles and Policy towards Burma/Myanmar” was organized on Tuesday by the Faculty of Political Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Participants included diplomats, and scholars focusing on Burma and the media.
Bhornchart added that the government would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas. He said, "Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary," according to a report in The Nation newspaper on Tuesday.
Moreover, Bhornchart said, the refugee situation could worsen if the Burmese Army launched more attacks against cease-fire groups, such as the Shan or the Wa rebels.
Democrat Party MP Kraisak Choonhavan and Chairperson of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus said that the international community and Thailand should be more concerned regarding the plight of displaced people, particularly Karen and the Shan groups, both inside Burma and those residing in camps along the Thai border.
Kraisak pointed out that the development projects which Thailand had invested in led to more human rights violations in Burma as in the case of dam construction projects on Salween Rivers. Here the Burmese junta forced the relocation of numerous of ethnic people. In addition, the recent clashes between the Burmese Army and the Wa armed group on Thailand and China borders could force many more refugees into Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
He also drew attention to a well-known report, ‘License to Rape,’ saying the outrage committed against minority women by the Burmese military is occurring in resource-rich areas.
Assistant Prof Puangthong Pawakapan, a scholar from the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, dismissed suggestions that conflict and human rights violations inside Burma were their internal problems not because of international influence but because Thailand is at the receiving end.
"Thailand doesn't have a coherent policy on Burma. We want cheap migrant labourers and natural resources such as timber but we don't seem to realize that the Burmese junta forces their own people from that area so that we can have these concessions," she added.
General Vaipot Srinual, former Deputy Permanent-Secretary of the Ministry of Defence said that Thailand’s military still has to take preventive measures for low-scale conflicts along the border. Burma, however, should be the main actor in solving its problem.
by Usa Pichai
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 14:21
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The ongoing conflict between the Burmese Army and ethnic armed groups and Thailand’s energy dependence on its neighbour has significantly affected Thai security policy and bilateral relations between the two countries, according to a conference in Bangkok.
Bhornchart Bunnag , Director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs and Defence at the National Security Council (NSC) said in a conference at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok on Tuesday that Thailand was affected the most by the situations in Burma. The bilateral policy has many angles which need to be considered.
“Thailand’s policy towards Burma has changed in the past few years. These include development projects that would link it with Burma China and Lao. It would not only affect trading but could lead to more trans-border crimes. We should prepare for that eventuality,” he said.
“In addition, Thailand is dependent on energy resources from neighbouring countries particularly Lao and Burma. It increasingly affects security and bilateral affairs,” Bhornchart said at the conference.
The conference “Thailand’s Position, Roles and Policy towards Burma/Myanmar” was organized on Tuesday by the Faculty of Political Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Participants included diplomats, and scholars focusing on Burma and the media.
Bhornchart added that the government would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas. He said, "Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary," according to a report in The Nation newspaper on Tuesday.
Moreover, Bhornchart said, the refugee situation could worsen if the Burmese Army launched more attacks against cease-fire groups, such as the Shan or the Wa rebels.
Democrat Party MP Kraisak Choonhavan and Chairperson of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus said that the international community and Thailand should be more concerned regarding the plight of displaced people, particularly Karen and the Shan groups, both inside Burma and those residing in camps along the Thai border.
Kraisak pointed out that the development projects which Thailand had invested in led to more human rights violations in Burma as in the case of dam construction projects on Salween Rivers. Here the Burmese junta forced the relocation of numerous of ethnic people. In addition, the recent clashes between the Burmese Army and the Wa armed group on Thailand and China borders could force many more refugees into Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
He also drew attention to a well-known report, ‘License to Rape,’ saying the outrage committed against minority women by the Burmese military is occurring in resource-rich areas.
Assistant Prof Puangthong Pawakapan, a scholar from the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, dismissed suggestions that conflict and human rights violations inside Burma were their internal problems not because of international influence but because Thailand is at the receiving end.
"Thailand doesn't have a coherent policy on Burma. We want cheap migrant labourers and natural resources such as timber but we don't seem to realize that the Burmese junta forces their own people from that area so that we can have these concessions," she added.
General Vaipot Srinual, former Deputy Permanent-Secretary of the Ministry of Defence said that Thailand’s military still has to take preventive measures for low-scale conflicts along the border. Burma, however, should be the main actor in solving its problem.
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Youth activist’s sentence extended by 10 years
Oct 7, 2009 (DVB)–A Burmese youth activist currently serving eight years in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison yesterday had his sentence extended by 10 years, sources close to his family said.
Nyein Chan, a member of the Generation Wave (GW) activist group, was yesterday found guilty of breaching the Electronics Act, a charge that has been used to imprison numerous activists, journalists and politicians in Burma.
“He was previously sentenced to eight years in prison by San Chaung district court under the Unlawful Association Act and still has two more trials to face at the same court,” said the source, speaking under condition of anonymity.
Nyein Chan’s initial sentence of eight years was handed down in February this year after he was caught distributing leaflets to mark the one-year anniversary of the founding of GW.
The source said that the multiple trials he is facing that force him to attend court up to three times a week are “damaging his physical and mental health”. He said the total prison sentence could be more than 20 years.
Burma currently holds around 2,120 political prisoners, including 244 monks and 270 students, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP).
The ruling junta last month announced an amnesty of more than 7,000 political prisoners, nearly 130 of which were political prisoners.
Critics of the junta cautiously welcomed the amnesty, but claimed it was done for cosmetic reasons. AAPP, who comprise of former Burmese political prisoners, said the move was a “cynical ploy” to deflect international criticism of the junta.
Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet
Oct 7, 2009 (DVB)–A Burmese youth activist currently serving eight years in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison yesterday had his sentence extended by 10 years, sources close to his family said.
Nyein Chan, a member of the Generation Wave (GW) activist group, was yesterday found guilty of breaching the Electronics Act, a charge that has been used to imprison numerous activists, journalists and politicians in Burma.
“He was previously sentenced to eight years in prison by San Chaung district court under the Unlawful Association Act and still has two more trials to face at the same court,” said the source, speaking under condition of anonymity.
Nyein Chan’s initial sentence of eight years was handed down in February this year after he was caught distributing leaflets to mark the one-year anniversary of the founding of GW.
The source said that the multiple trials he is facing that force him to attend court up to three times a week are “damaging his physical and mental health”. He said the total prison sentence could be more than 20 years.
Burma currently holds around 2,120 political prisoners, including 244 monks and 270 students, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP).
The ruling junta last month announced an amnesty of more than 7,000 political prisoners, nearly 130 of which were political prisoners.
Critics of the junta cautiously welcomed the amnesty, but claimed it was done for cosmetic reasons. AAPP, who comprise of former Burmese political prisoners, said the move was a “cynical ploy” to deflect international criticism of the junta.
Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet
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Migrant group welcomes UN reportOct 7, 2009 (DVB)–A recent UN human development report that takes a positive stance on migration has been welcomed by a Thai-border based Burmese migrant workers group.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) report, ‘Overcoming Barriers’, states that “migrants boost economic output” and recommends the “lowering of barriers to movement and improving the treatment of movers”.
The report highlighted an agreement between Burma and Thailand to issue Burmese migrant workers with temporary passports, although said that “continuing complaints suggest that delays and demands for bribes remain common”.
Moe Swe, the head of Yaung Chi Oo migrant group in Thailand’s Mae Sot, welcomed the focus of the report, but added that there remains “a lot of confusion” surrounding the temporary passport scheme.
When registering for a passport in Thailand, the Thai authorities seek verification of their nationality with Burmese officials across the border, who then refer the case on to local government authorities.
He said that local authorities often demand money from family members of the worker, with “some migrants…threatened by local authorities”.
He added that “economic problems, unemployment and the unstable political situation” were causing more Burmese to cross into Thailand in search of work.
The report noted that someone born in Thailand “can expect to live seven more years, to have almost three times as many years of education, and to spend and save eight times as much as someone born in neighbouring Myanmar”.
Moe Swe said however that there is a “problem of implementation” of many of Thailand’s labour laws, particularly in Mae Sot.
Discrimination of Burmese workers by employers is also a big problem, and is compounded by the fact that employers are often “very close to the local [Thai] authorities”.
The report also highlights nations, including Burma, that restrict the departure of migrants, with discrimination common among female migrants. Alongside Sudan and Zimbabwe, Burma was labeled an “extreme case” of internal migration.
“Sudan, Myanmar [Burma] and Zimbabwe each had more than 500,000 crisis-affected people who were beyond the reach of any humanitarian assistance,” the report said.
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