Myanmar's Suu Kyi proposes cooperation with junta
Tue Nov 17, 10:16 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to cooperate with Myanmar's ruling junta in lifting foreign sanctions but it remains uncertain if the reconciliation efforts will yield results.
In a letter to junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe released Tuesday, Suu Kyi has requested a meeting to explain how she would cooperate in tasks "beneficial to the country." She does not specify what those might be.
"The letter is very significant. It clearly shows Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's willingness to work with the government in the interest of the nation," said her National League for Democracy party spokesman Nyan Win. 'Daw' is a term of respect used for older women.
The party, which released the text, had previously described in general terms the contents of the letter, dated Nov. 11. The government has yet to respond.
Suu Kyi's initiative is the latest move to try to break the political deadlock that began when the NLD won a 1990 general election. The military refused to allow it to take power and increased repression of the country's pro-democracy movement, causing the United States and another Western nations to isolate it with economic and political sanctions.
However, the Obama administration, acknowledging that such moves failed to foster reforms, is now seeking to engage it through high-level talks instead of simply applying sanctions.
It's difficult to judge the significance of the latest moves, said Donald Seekins, a Myanmar expert at Japan's Meio University, noting that there have been previous stillborn attempts at reconciliation.
"They tend to warm up and then get very cold again, depending upon the general political circumstances," he said.
Seekins speculated that the junta's reaction to the U.S. initiative might depend on whether it wants to loosen its close ties with China, its neighbor and closest ally.
This is the second letter Suu Kyi sent to the junta leader since August, when she was sentenced to 18 months' more house arrest for harboring an uninvited American citizen.
She has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years.
In September, she wrote to Than Shwe stating her willingness to cooperate with the military government to have international sanctions eased — an apparent shift in her position. She had previously welcomed sanctions as a way to pressure the junta to come to an accommodation with the pro-democracy movement.
In her new letter, she also seeks permission to meet with the NLD's central executive committee members and visit old and ailing party leaders.
"She has taken up an approach that cannot be rejected and we are all very hopeful that the government will respond positively to her letter and we hope for a positive outcome," said Nyan Win.
Tue Nov 17, 10:16 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to cooperate with Myanmar's ruling junta in lifting foreign sanctions but it remains uncertain if the reconciliation efforts will yield results.
In a letter to junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe released Tuesday, Suu Kyi has requested a meeting to explain how she would cooperate in tasks "beneficial to the country." She does not specify what those might be.
"The letter is very significant. It clearly shows Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's willingness to work with the government in the interest of the nation," said her National League for Democracy party spokesman Nyan Win. 'Daw' is a term of respect used for older women.
The party, which released the text, had previously described in general terms the contents of the letter, dated Nov. 11. The government has yet to respond.
Suu Kyi's initiative is the latest move to try to break the political deadlock that began when the NLD won a 1990 general election. The military refused to allow it to take power and increased repression of the country's pro-democracy movement, causing the United States and another Western nations to isolate it with economic and political sanctions.
However, the Obama administration, acknowledging that such moves failed to foster reforms, is now seeking to engage it through high-level talks instead of simply applying sanctions.
It's difficult to judge the significance of the latest moves, said Donald Seekins, a Myanmar expert at Japan's Meio University, noting that there have been previous stillborn attempts at reconciliation.
"They tend to warm up and then get very cold again, depending upon the general political circumstances," he said.
Seekins speculated that the junta's reaction to the U.S. initiative might depend on whether it wants to loosen its close ties with China, its neighbor and closest ally.
This is the second letter Suu Kyi sent to the junta leader since August, when she was sentenced to 18 months' more house arrest for harboring an uninvited American citizen.
She has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years.
In September, she wrote to Than Shwe stating her willingness to cooperate with the military government to have international sanctions eased — an apparent shift in her position. She had previously welcomed sanctions as a way to pressure the junta to come to an accommodation with the pro-democracy movement.
In her new letter, she also seeks permission to meet with the NLD's central executive committee members and visit old and ailing party leaders.
"She has taken up an approach that cannot be rejected and we are all very hopeful that the government will respond positively to her letter and we hope for a positive outcome," said Nyan Win.
*************************************************************
Scores feared dead in Myanmar ferry crash: officials
Tue Nov 17, 5:23 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – At least 50 people are feared dead after a packed passenger ferry crashed into an oil barge in an area of Myanmar that was hit by a devastating cyclone last year, local officials said on Tuesday.
The accident happened late Sunday when the wooden boat carrying nearly 180 passengers was travelling along the Ngawun river in the southern Irrawaddy Delta, the officials said.
"The boat sank after colliding with an oil barge. We have recovered 34 bodies and there at least another 16 people missing who are believed to have drowned," said an official in the area on condition of anonymity.
"The other passengers were rescued from the water and have gone back to their home villages," the official said, adding that the vessel was travelling between the towns of Pathein and Thetkelthaung when it sank.
The Irrawaddy Delta was the area that suffered worst when Cyclone Nargis hit southern Myanmar in May 2008. The catastrophic storm killed around 138,000 people and left thousands more homeless.
Most people living in the low-lying region -- the least developed part of impoverished Myanmar -- rely heavily on poorly-maintained river ferries for transportation around its flooded plains.
At least 38 villagers were killed when a boat sank in the delta region in July 2008.
Tue Nov 17, 5:23 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – At least 50 people are feared dead after a packed passenger ferry crashed into an oil barge in an area of Myanmar that was hit by a devastating cyclone last year, local officials said on Tuesday.
The accident happened late Sunday when the wooden boat carrying nearly 180 passengers was travelling along the Ngawun river in the southern Irrawaddy Delta, the officials said.
"The boat sank after colliding with an oil barge. We have recovered 34 bodies and there at least another 16 people missing who are believed to have drowned," said an official in the area on condition of anonymity.
"The other passengers were rescued from the water and have gone back to their home villages," the official said, adding that the vessel was travelling between the towns of Pathein and Thetkelthaung when it sank.
The Irrawaddy Delta was the area that suffered worst when Cyclone Nargis hit southern Myanmar in May 2008. The catastrophic storm killed around 138,000 people and left thousands more homeless.
Most people living in the low-lying region -- the least developed part of impoverished Myanmar -- rely heavily on poorly-maintained river ferries for transportation around its flooded plains.
At least 38 villagers were killed when a boat sank in the delta region in July 2008.
*************************************************************
EarthTimes - Myanmar mulls railway link with China
Posted : Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:10:26 GMT
Yangon - Myanmar has opened discussions on building a railway link between its north-eastern Shan State and China's Yunnan province, media reports said Wednesday. "The Myanmar-China railway link will connect Lashio, capital of Shan state in the north, and Jiegao town of Yunnan province, China," The Yangon Times weekly reported.
Officials from China's Railways Ministry recently visited Myanmar to discuss the proposed link, the Burmese-language weekly said.
"Three possible routes for the railway link have already been chosen," the newspaper said. Construction costs for the new railway link were estimated at 500 million dollars.
Myanmar currently has a rail track between Yangon, Myanmar's former capital, and Lashio.
Posted : Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:10:26 GMT
Yangon - Myanmar has opened discussions on building a railway link between its north-eastern Shan State and China's Yunnan province, media reports said Wednesday. "The Myanmar-China railway link will connect Lashio, capital of Shan state in the north, and Jiegao town of Yunnan province, China," The Yangon Times weekly reported.
Officials from China's Railways Ministry recently visited Myanmar to discuss the proposed link, the Burmese-language weekly said.
"Three possible routes for the railway link have already been chosen," the newspaper said. Construction costs for the new railway link were estimated at 500 million dollars.
Myanmar currently has a rail track between Yangon, Myanmar's former capital, and Lashio.
*************************************************************
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE:
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Amnesty International Urges Obama to Not Ignore Human Rights During his Meeting with ASEAN Leaders
Meeting will occur during the APEC summit in Singapore
(Washington) --T. Kumar, Amnesty International USA's director for international advocacy and one of the foremost experts on Asia, issued the following statement prior to President Obama's trip to Asia including attending the APEC forum in Singapore and visiting Japan, China and South Korea. During his visit, he is reportedly scheduled to meet with ASEAN leaders on November 15.
President Obama must not ignore human rights abuses in Southeast Asia during his meeting with the leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). While ASEAN should be applauded for the creation of the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), President Obama needs to urge that this new body is independent and impartial in its activities.
In addition, the U.S. government should urge all of the ASEAN leaders to release political prisoners in their respective countries, allow media freedom, stop political killings, allow freedom of religion and stop persecuting opposition leaders. Since (Burma) Myanmar's Prime Minister, Thein Sein, is one of the leaders attending this meeting with President Obama, the President should urge him to release approximately 2,100 political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who are currently in government custody. "President Obama must not allow a key opportunity to push human rights in the region to be squandered away. Otherwise the leaders of these countries will begin to think that that any push for human rights is merely rhetoric."
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
PRESS RELEASE:
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Amnesty International Urges Obama to Not Ignore Human Rights During his Meeting with ASEAN Leaders
Meeting will occur during the APEC summit in Singapore
(Washington) --T. Kumar, Amnesty International USA's director for international advocacy and one of the foremost experts on Asia, issued the following statement prior to President Obama's trip to Asia including attending the APEC forum in Singapore and visiting Japan, China and South Korea. During his visit, he is reportedly scheduled to meet with ASEAN leaders on November 15.
President Obama must not ignore human rights abuses in Southeast Asia during his meeting with the leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). While ASEAN should be applauded for the creation of the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), President Obama needs to urge that this new body is independent and impartial in its activities.
In addition, the U.S. government should urge all of the ASEAN leaders to release political prisoners in their respective countries, allow media freedom, stop political killings, allow freedom of religion and stop persecuting opposition leaders. Since (Burma) Myanmar's Prime Minister, Thein Sein, is one of the leaders attending this meeting with President Obama, the President should urge him to release approximately 2,100 political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who are currently in government custody. "President Obama must not allow a key opportunity to push human rights in the region to be squandered away. Otherwise the leaders of these countries will begin to think that that any push for human rights is merely rhetoric."
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
*************************************************************
National Public Radio
NPR - Looking For Corruption? Somalia, Afghanistan & Myanmar Are 'Top' Three
7:46 am, November 18, 2009
By Mark Memmott
Somalia is the most corrupt country in the world, followed closely by Afghanistan and Myanmar, according to researchers at the "global civil society organization" Transparency International.
The organization looks at issues such as how common bribery of public officials is, based on reports from multiple sources. It takes information from 13 different surveys of each nation and then develops rankings. By its measures, these are the most corrupt nations, in order:
1. Somalia.
2. Afghanistan.
3. Myanmar.
4 & 5. Sudan and Iraq (tie).
6. Chad.
7. Uzbekistan.
8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13. Turkmenistan, Iran, Haiti, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi (tie).
The least corrupt nations, according to the group:
1. New Zealand.
2. Denmark
3 & 4. Singapore and Sweden (tie).
5. Switzerland
6 & 7. Finland and Netherlands.
8, 9 & 10. Australia, Canada and Iceland.
The United States ranked as the 19th "least corrupt" nation.
NPR - Looking For Corruption? Somalia, Afghanistan & Myanmar Are 'Top' Three
7:46 am, November 18, 2009
By Mark Memmott
Somalia is the most corrupt country in the world, followed closely by Afghanistan and Myanmar, according to researchers at the "global civil society organization" Transparency International.
The organization looks at issues such as how common bribery of public officials is, based on reports from multiple sources. It takes information from 13 different surveys of each nation and then develops rankings. By its measures, these are the most corrupt nations, in order:
1. Somalia.
2. Afghanistan.
3. Myanmar.
4 & 5. Sudan and Iraq (tie).
6. Chad.
7. Uzbekistan.
8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13. Turkmenistan, Iran, Haiti, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi (tie).
The least corrupt nations, according to the group:
1. New Zealand.
2. Denmark
3 & 4. Singapore and Sweden (tie).
5. Switzerland
6 & 7. Finland and Netherlands.
8, 9 & 10. Australia, Canada and Iceland.
The United States ranked as the 19th "least corrupt" nation.
*************************************************************
November 18, 2009 19:28 PM
Vietnamese Businessmen To Invest In Myanmar's Hotel Industry
YANGON, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Vietnamese businessmen will invest in Myanmar's hotel industry for the first time, as part of its engagement in the country, sources with the Myanmar Hoteliers Association said on Wednesday.
The planned hotel is to be built near Myanmar's current top-level one, the Sedona, located on the Kaba Aye Pagoda Road in the biggest city of Yangon, the sources said without disclosing further information, China's Xinhua news agency said.
There are some other foreign-invested hotels operating in the city, which are three from Thailand, one from Singapore and the other from China, it said.
Meanwhile, a Vietnamese airline is also planning to fly Myanmar as a new destination, it added.
According to official statistics, Vietnam's investment in Myanmar hit some US$23.4 million in nearly 21 years up to the end of May this year since the country opened to such investment in late 1988.
Vietnam stands the 16th among Myanmar's exporting countries and 11th among importing ones.
Myanmar mainly exported its forestry products to Vietnam, followed by agricultural produces, seafood and electrical spare parts, while it imported from Vietnam steel, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, medicines, industrial products, chemical products, computer and accessories, plastic, cosmetics and engine oil.
Official statistics show that Myanmar-Vietnam bilateral trade in the first nine months of 2009 hit some US$60 million.
Of the total, Myanmar's export to Vietnam took some US$42 million, while its import from Vietnam stood at US$18 million, enjoying a trade surplus of US$24 million.
Vietnamese Businessmen To Invest In Myanmar's Hotel Industry
YANGON, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Vietnamese businessmen will invest in Myanmar's hotel industry for the first time, as part of its engagement in the country, sources with the Myanmar Hoteliers Association said on Wednesday.
The planned hotel is to be built near Myanmar's current top-level one, the Sedona, located on the Kaba Aye Pagoda Road in the biggest city of Yangon, the sources said without disclosing further information, China's Xinhua news agency said.
There are some other foreign-invested hotels operating in the city, which are three from Thailand, one from Singapore and the other from China, it said.
Meanwhile, a Vietnamese airline is also planning to fly Myanmar as a new destination, it added.
According to official statistics, Vietnam's investment in Myanmar hit some US$23.4 million in nearly 21 years up to the end of May this year since the country opened to such investment in late 1988.
Vietnam stands the 16th among Myanmar's exporting countries and 11th among importing ones.
Myanmar mainly exported its forestry products to Vietnam, followed by agricultural produces, seafood and electrical spare parts, while it imported from Vietnam steel, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, medicines, industrial products, chemical products, computer and accessories, plastic, cosmetics and engine oil.
Official statistics show that Myanmar-Vietnam bilateral trade in the first nine months of 2009 hit some US$60 million.
Of the total, Myanmar's export to Vietnam took some US$42 million, while its import from Vietnam stood at US$18 million, enjoying a trade surplus of US$24 million.
*************************************************************
TWO YEAR-OLD MYANMAR GIRL ABDUCTED BY INDONESIAN MAID
Bernama - Wednesday, November 18
SHAH ALAM, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- An Indonesian maid is believed to have abducted a two year-old Myanmar girl from her home at Apartmen Brunsfields Riverview, Seksyen 13 here at noon today.
Cooks Aung Soe or Abu Hussin, 38, and Haslinda Damanik, 35, found their daughter Siti Nurdiana missing on returning home from work at 7.30pm .
"I found my house in a mess while Nurdiana and maid Suparmi were missing. My wife cried out loud after finding Nurdiana's clothes missing.
"I then contacted my employer who took us to lodge a report at Bukit Jelutong police station and then to give a statement at Shah Alam police headquarters," he told reporters here today.
Myanmar national Aung Soe said he did not know how to track Suparmi, 50, as she did not have a work permit and was an illegal immigrant.
The couple said they did not expect Suparmi to abduct Nurdiana as they had treated her well during the two months of employment.
"I never scolded or mistreated her and we even had dinner together. She looked after Nurdiana," Aung Soe said.
The cook hoped that Nurdiana would be found and asked the public to contact police should they come across Nurdiana and Suparmi.
Bernama - Wednesday, November 18
SHAH ALAM, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- An Indonesian maid is believed to have abducted a two year-old Myanmar girl from her home at Apartmen Brunsfields Riverview, Seksyen 13 here at noon today.
Cooks Aung Soe or Abu Hussin, 38, and Haslinda Damanik, 35, found their daughter Siti Nurdiana missing on returning home from work at 7.30pm .
"I found my house in a mess while Nurdiana and maid Suparmi were missing. My wife cried out loud after finding Nurdiana's clothes missing.
"I then contacted my employer who took us to lodge a report at Bukit Jelutong police station and then to give a statement at Shah Alam police headquarters," he told reporters here today.
Myanmar national Aung Soe said he did not know how to track Suparmi, 50, as she did not have a work permit and was an illegal immigrant.
The couple said they did not expect Suparmi to abduct Nurdiana as they had treated her well during the two months of employment.
"I never scolded or mistreated her and we even had dinner together. She looked after Nurdiana," Aung Soe said.
The cook hoped that Nurdiana would be found and asked the public to contact police should they come across Nurdiana and Suparmi.
*************************************************************
Nov 19, 2009
OBAMA ON THE ASIAN HIGHWAY
Asia Times Online - A new courtship for Southeast Asia
By Brian McCartan
BANGKOK - As United States President Barack Obama's Asia tour wraps up this week, his takeaway message was clear: the US is back in the region. In Southeast Asia, that message is translating into renewed engagement which, while not aimed exclusively at containing China's growing influence, is certainly targeted at fostering greater competition for the loyalty of individual countries.
Obama's trip over the weekend made him the first American president to share a room with all 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Much has been made of Obama's childhood time in Indonesia and the perceived Asian orientation of his presidency. He declared himself as the US's first "Pacific president" during his tour. The US's new Asian focus, however, is also based on views in Washington policy circles that the region has been neglected, much to the US's detriment in maintaining its pre-eminent position in the region vis-a-vis China.
Chinese influence in the region has grown considerably since the 1997-98 financial crisis and extended in the wake of the just now lifting global economic crisis. The late 1990s saw China's policy shift away from a confrontational approach, which included material support for several communist insurgencies, a brief invasion of Vietnam and high tensions with several Southeast Asian claimants to potentially oil-rich areas in the South China Sea.
In its place, China began using what many analysts have dubbed as a "soft power" approach to regional diplomacy, combining improved diplomatic relations with heavy investment in economic and infrastructure development projects. The new strategy has seen China work most closely with the region's authoritarian regimes, most notably with Myanmar.
Beijing's soft-power efforts have included training for government officials, invitations to meetings and trade fairs and special scholarships to regional students to study in Chinese universities. Infrastructure projects such as roads and hydro-electric dams and prestige projects such as the main stadium for next month's 2009 Southeast Asia Games in Vientiane, Laos, and the recently completed Council of Ministers building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, are big-ticket examples of the approach.
In addition, China is an increasingly important source of low-interest loans, grants, development projects, technical assistance and foreign investment. Beijing's "no strings attached" approach to foreign aid has made China an attractive partner for regional governments with questionable human-rights and democracy records. That's been in direct contrast to the demands for improvements in political freedoms and human rights and moves against corruption demanded by many Western governments, including the US, as conditions for its assistance.
Those demands, however, have increasingly fallen on deaf ears. Economically, China last year replaced the US as ASEAN's third-largest trading partner - a position the US comfortably held for decades. Since 1993, China's trade with the region has grown by almost 20 times to US$179 billion in 2008. Its share of total ASEAN commerce rose from 2% to 10.5% over the same period. In August, China and ASEAN finalized a free-trade pact that can only boost further ties.
In contrast, despite an almost tripling in two-way shipments to $201 billion, the US's share of ASEAN's total trade fell from 17% to 12% last year. China's inroads have been made at a time when US attention was largely diverted, especially towards Iraq and Afghanistan and more broadly on the "war on terror".
Arrogant response
United States clout in the region was first hit by its perceived arrogant and opportunistic response to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, where it espoused the superiority of Western management and professed that more open markets were the best solution to the crisis that crashed asset values and indebted businesses.
The perception was compounded by Washington's reluctance to attend regional meetings after the inclusion of Myanmar in ASEAN in 1997, out of fear that participation could send an overly conciliatory message to its military leaders.
Southeast Asian feelings of American neglect were also reinforced by the US's post-September 11, 2001 focus on counter-terrorism issues and less on regional trade and investment initiatives, though several free-trade agreements were initiated with various regional countries during the George W Bush presidency.
Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's decision to skip two out of four ASEAN summits during her tenure, and what was viewed as a whirlwind visit by Bush to Indonesia in November 2006, were viewed as deliberate snubs by many ASEAN members. With apparent waning US interest, and amid Beijing's trade, diplomatic and development overtures, China stole a march in the region.
Realization of China's growing clout gave rise to fears among some US officials that America's long-standing influence in the region could be eclipsed. Some change began under the Bush administration with the creation of a US ambassador for ASEAN Affairs. The Obama administration has carried forward those efforts, beginning with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's inaugural trip to the region in February when she visited the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.
That visit was followed by her attendance at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phuket, Thailand, in July where she signed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation - an agreement China had signed in 2003. During that meeting, Clinton pointedly announced "the US is back in Southeast Asia".
Clinton's two visits to the region were a lead-up to the US-ASEAN Leaders Meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held in Singapore over the weekend. Although no major deals or political breakthroughs were expected from the meet, symbolically it provided a boost to American clout in the region and sent the message that the US intends to remain as a major political and economic presence in the region.
It also intended to send the message that the US intends to compete with China for regional influence. In his speech at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on November 14 before traveling to Singapore, Obama said, "In an interconnected world, power does not need to be a zero-sum game, and nations need not fear the success of another. Cultivating spheres of cooperation - not competing spheres of influence - will lead to progress in the Asia-Pacific."
He continued, "The United States does not seek to contain China, nor does a deeper relationship with China mean a weakening of our bilateral alliances."
Power equations
Analysts differ over China's ultimate intentions in the region. Some view Beijing as seeking to dominate the region, to the detriment of the US, with the aim of securing its contiguous southern provinces from outside influence. The Obama administration has now publicly taken the stance that US-China competition for influence in the region need not come at the other's expense.
While containment of China in the sense of forcing countries to pick sides and creating a confrontational Cold War-like atmosphere is not overtly Obama's policy, it does seem aimed at blunting the spread of Chinese power. One of the new arenas of that competition is military-run Myanmar, where China currently has comparative influence.
Under a doctrine of engaging both friends and foes, a new US policy was announced at the end of September that provided for diplomatic engagement with Myanmar's military regime. The policy offers an alternative to the strict sanctions-led policies of the Bill Clinton and Bush presidencies and removes a recurring impediment to US-ASEAN ties caused by ASEAN's insistence of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states and US animosity towards the rights-abusing military regime.
Some Chinese officials read into Washington's new engagement the beginning of US competition for influence in Myanmar. The US currently has no development programs, no civil-society building projects and no military exchanges with Myanmar with which to build relations and influence policy. Even diplomatic relations are handled by a charge d'affaires since its ambassador was recalled following the violent repression of pro-democracy protesters in 1988.
Without this presence, the US has no diplomatic tools with which to balance growing Chinese strategic and economic interests in the country. With renewed diplomatic relations and a new push for reform, the US is aiming to build those and establish influence. The US has made it clear on several occasions, most recently following a visit to Myanmar by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Kurt Campbell, that sanctions will not be removed until the junta shows clear progress towards an inclusive political process and free and fair elections.
The US has also reserved the right to increase sanctions should the regime step out of line, as it did in 2007 when it cracked down on peaceful Buddhist monk-led protests. In an address over the weekend to ASEAN leaders, including Myanmar Prime Minister Lieutenant General Thein Sein, Obama called for the release of pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other political prisoners, and for an end to repression of ethnic minorities. Obama, however, failed to get his call to freedom included in a joint US-ASEAN statement following the meeting, which only called for the 2010 elections in Myanmar to be "conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner".
Myanmar has not been the only focus of the Obama administration's re-engagement with Southeast Asia. Two other countries viewed as Chinese allies in the region - Cambodia and Laos - have also seen recent US moves aimed to balance Beijing's influence. For instance, US development and military aid has recently been increased in both countries.
Earlier this year, Obama removed Cambodia and Laos from a long-maintained trade blacklist which will open the way for American companies to apply for financing through the US Export-Import Bank for loan guarantees, export credit insurance and working capital guarantees. The US has also stepped up military cooperation with Cambodia, providing it with military equipment and agreeing to participate for the first time in joint military exercises next year.
Even traditional American ally, Thailand, is slated to receive stepped-up US aid in the wake of a perceived slight shift towards China during the premiership of now exiled former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra. A new United States Agency for International Development program aimed at improving civil society structures and media capacity across the country is planned for next year. The program will include projects in the restive southern Muslim region where both Thailand and the US had previously sought to keep US involvement to a minimum.
Renewed US interest in the region will be welcomed by most ASEAN members as a useful counterbalance to China's surging influence. Although China has become an increasingly powerful economic force in the region, their export-driven economies still rely on US markets to fuel growth. And America's military still plays a leading role in many regional countries, including as a source of weapons and training to counter-terrorism forces in Indonesia and the Philippines, where terror networks linked to al-Qaeda are still active.
How the US calibrates its new engagement, and how China reacts, will go some way in determining the region's future stability and prosperity.
Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.
OBAMA ON THE ASIAN HIGHWAY
Asia Times Online - A new courtship for Southeast Asia
By Brian McCartan
BANGKOK - As United States President Barack Obama's Asia tour wraps up this week, his takeaway message was clear: the US is back in the region. In Southeast Asia, that message is translating into renewed engagement which, while not aimed exclusively at containing China's growing influence, is certainly targeted at fostering greater competition for the loyalty of individual countries.
Obama's trip over the weekend made him the first American president to share a room with all 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Much has been made of Obama's childhood time in Indonesia and the perceived Asian orientation of his presidency. He declared himself as the US's first "Pacific president" during his tour. The US's new Asian focus, however, is also based on views in Washington policy circles that the region has been neglected, much to the US's detriment in maintaining its pre-eminent position in the region vis-a-vis China.
Chinese influence in the region has grown considerably since the 1997-98 financial crisis and extended in the wake of the just now lifting global economic crisis. The late 1990s saw China's policy shift away from a confrontational approach, which included material support for several communist insurgencies, a brief invasion of Vietnam and high tensions with several Southeast Asian claimants to potentially oil-rich areas in the South China Sea.
In its place, China began using what many analysts have dubbed as a "soft power" approach to regional diplomacy, combining improved diplomatic relations with heavy investment in economic and infrastructure development projects. The new strategy has seen China work most closely with the region's authoritarian regimes, most notably with Myanmar.
Beijing's soft-power efforts have included training for government officials, invitations to meetings and trade fairs and special scholarships to regional students to study in Chinese universities. Infrastructure projects such as roads and hydro-electric dams and prestige projects such as the main stadium for next month's 2009 Southeast Asia Games in Vientiane, Laos, and the recently completed Council of Ministers building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, are big-ticket examples of the approach.
In addition, China is an increasingly important source of low-interest loans, grants, development projects, technical assistance and foreign investment. Beijing's "no strings attached" approach to foreign aid has made China an attractive partner for regional governments with questionable human-rights and democracy records. That's been in direct contrast to the demands for improvements in political freedoms and human rights and moves against corruption demanded by many Western governments, including the US, as conditions for its assistance.
Those demands, however, have increasingly fallen on deaf ears. Economically, China last year replaced the US as ASEAN's third-largest trading partner - a position the US comfortably held for decades. Since 1993, China's trade with the region has grown by almost 20 times to US$179 billion in 2008. Its share of total ASEAN commerce rose from 2% to 10.5% over the same period. In August, China and ASEAN finalized a free-trade pact that can only boost further ties.
In contrast, despite an almost tripling in two-way shipments to $201 billion, the US's share of ASEAN's total trade fell from 17% to 12% last year. China's inroads have been made at a time when US attention was largely diverted, especially towards Iraq and Afghanistan and more broadly on the "war on terror".
Arrogant response
United States clout in the region was first hit by its perceived arrogant and opportunistic response to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, where it espoused the superiority of Western management and professed that more open markets were the best solution to the crisis that crashed asset values and indebted businesses.
The perception was compounded by Washington's reluctance to attend regional meetings after the inclusion of Myanmar in ASEAN in 1997, out of fear that participation could send an overly conciliatory message to its military leaders.
Southeast Asian feelings of American neglect were also reinforced by the US's post-September 11, 2001 focus on counter-terrorism issues and less on regional trade and investment initiatives, though several free-trade agreements were initiated with various regional countries during the George W Bush presidency.
Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's decision to skip two out of four ASEAN summits during her tenure, and what was viewed as a whirlwind visit by Bush to Indonesia in November 2006, were viewed as deliberate snubs by many ASEAN members. With apparent waning US interest, and amid Beijing's trade, diplomatic and development overtures, China stole a march in the region.
Realization of China's growing clout gave rise to fears among some US officials that America's long-standing influence in the region could be eclipsed. Some change began under the Bush administration with the creation of a US ambassador for ASEAN Affairs. The Obama administration has carried forward those efforts, beginning with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's inaugural trip to the region in February when she visited the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.
That visit was followed by her attendance at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phuket, Thailand, in July where she signed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation - an agreement China had signed in 2003. During that meeting, Clinton pointedly announced "the US is back in Southeast Asia".
Clinton's two visits to the region were a lead-up to the US-ASEAN Leaders Meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held in Singapore over the weekend. Although no major deals or political breakthroughs were expected from the meet, symbolically it provided a boost to American clout in the region and sent the message that the US intends to remain as a major political and economic presence in the region.
It also intended to send the message that the US intends to compete with China for regional influence. In his speech at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on November 14 before traveling to Singapore, Obama said, "In an interconnected world, power does not need to be a zero-sum game, and nations need not fear the success of another. Cultivating spheres of cooperation - not competing spheres of influence - will lead to progress in the Asia-Pacific."
He continued, "The United States does not seek to contain China, nor does a deeper relationship with China mean a weakening of our bilateral alliances."
Power equations
Analysts differ over China's ultimate intentions in the region. Some view Beijing as seeking to dominate the region, to the detriment of the US, with the aim of securing its contiguous southern provinces from outside influence. The Obama administration has now publicly taken the stance that US-China competition for influence in the region need not come at the other's expense.
While containment of China in the sense of forcing countries to pick sides and creating a confrontational Cold War-like atmosphere is not overtly Obama's policy, it does seem aimed at blunting the spread of Chinese power. One of the new arenas of that competition is military-run Myanmar, where China currently has comparative influence.
Under a doctrine of engaging both friends and foes, a new US policy was announced at the end of September that provided for diplomatic engagement with Myanmar's military regime. The policy offers an alternative to the strict sanctions-led policies of the Bill Clinton and Bush presidencies and removes a recurring impediment to US-ASEAN ties caused by ASEAN's insistence of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states and US animosity towards the rights-abusing military regime.
Some Chinese officials read into Washington's new engagement the beginning of US competition for influence in Myanmar. The US currently has no development programs, no civil-society building projects and no military exchanges with Myanmar with which to build relations and influence policy. Even diplomatic relations are handled by a charge d'affaires since its ambassador was recalled following the violent repression of pro-democracy protesters in 1988.
Without this presence, the US has no diplomatic tools with which to balance growing Chinese strategic and economic interests in the country. With renewed diplomatic relations and a new push for reform, the US is aiming to build those and establish influence. The US has made it clear on several occasions, most recently following a visit to Myanmar by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Kurt Campbell, that sanctions will not be removed until the junta shows clear progress towards an inclusive political process and free and fair elections.
The US has also reserved the right to increase sanctions should the regime step out of line, as it did in 2007 when it cracked down on peaceful Buddhist monk-led protests. In an address over the weekend to ASEAN leaders, including Myanmar Prime Minister Lieutenant General Thein Sein, Obama called for the release of pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other political prisoners, and for an end to repression of ethnic minorities. Obama, however, failed to get his call to freedom included in a joint US-ASEAN statement following the meeting, which only called for the 2010 elections in Myanmar to be "conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner".
Myanmar has not been the only focus of the Obama administration's re-engagement with Southeast Asia. Two other countries viewed as Chinese allies in the region - Cambodia and Laos - have also seen recent US moves aimed to balance Beijing's influence. For instance, US development and military aid has recently been increased in both countries.
Earlier this year, Obama removed Cambodia and Laos from a long-maintained trade blacklist which will open the way for American companies to apply for financing through the US Export-Import Bank for loan guarantees, export credit insurance and working capital guarantees. The US has also stepped up military cooperation with Cambodia, providing it with military equipment and agreeing to participate for the first time in joint military exercises next year.
Even traditional American ally, Thailand, is slated to receive stepped-up US aid in the wake of a perceived slight shift towards China during the premiership of now exiled former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra. A new United States Agency for International Development program aimed at improving civil society structures and media capacity across the country is planned for next year. The program will include projects in the restive southern Muslim region where both Thailand and the US had previously sought to keep US involvement to a minimum.
Renewed US interest in the region will be welcomed by most ASEAN members as a useful counterbalance to China's surging influence. Although China has become an increasingly powerful economic force in the region, their export-driven economies still rely on US markets to fuel growth. And America's military still plays a leading role in many regional countries, including as a source of weapons and training to counter-terrorism forces in Indonesia and the Philippines, where terror networks linked to al-Qaeda are still active.
How the US calibrates its new engagement, and how China reacts, will go some way in determining the region's future stability and prosperity.
Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.
*************************************************************
Global Politician - Multilateral Approach desirable to address the Myanmar Issue
Rajaram Panda, Ph.D. - 11/17/2009
Myanmar has emerged as a new test case for the success of US engagement in Asia, especially when the military junta has shown no sign of complying with the international opinion of restoring democracy and has been tightening control further on its people. No amount of carrot and stick approach by the US has proved successful. The latest volte force in Washington’s Myanmar policy has been applying the carrot approach and abandoning the application of stick as the means for seeking peace dividend.
Even within the ASEAN and for critics of the ASEAN, Myanmar has long served as proof of the organisation’s ineffectuality. The country’s military junta has successfully defied the world and suppressed democracy, oppressed its people and ignored worldwide demand for observing human rights. The ASEAN member countries have refrained from applying economic sanctions because the founding agreement does not allow intervention in the internal affairs of fellow members. However, in the wake of international clamour of restoring democracy in Myanmar and worldwide condemnation of keeping the democracy advocate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, the ASEAN member states are facing critical test in its quest for legitimacy. It is unclear if and how the ASEAN member states will pressure the military regime to accept the organisation’s governing norms. Strategic economic sanctions with the intention to bring the military junta and thereby demonstrating the world that ASEAN is a legitimate and effective regional organization may be a tempting option. But there is also a possibility that such an approach might further harden the stance of the junta and the repressive rule could be more repressive.
Probably having realized the futility of such an option, the Obama administration is seeking to engage the military junta by sending senior leaders to initiate dialogue. Here some parallel can be drawn with the US policy towards North Korea. Both Kim Jong Il of North Korea and General Than Shwe seem to be pursuing the policy of repression at home to extract economic aid from the US and as a bargaining tool to come to the negotiating table.
The last highest-level US diplomat to have visited Myanmar was in 1995 when Madeleine visited Myanmar as the chief US representative to the United Nations. Now under the Obama dispensation, senior US officials were allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. A high-ranking group led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top American diplomat for East Asia, met privately with the Nobel Prize winner in the first week of November 2009. Campbell also held talks with top generals in the government, including Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein and leaders of Suu Kyi’s political party.
Campbell’s visit was a demonstration of US commitment to repair relations between the two countries, while assuring democracy activists US’ support for their cause. It is premature at this stage to expect dramatic change in the regime’s authoritarian tactics, many of which have been in place since the military seized power in 1962.
Campbell’s two-day exploratory mission to Myanmar came nearly a month after US Senator Jim Webb became the highest-ranking US official to have met with the junta and a week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the Obama administration’s plan to engage with the reclusive military junta. Jim Webb, chairman of the Asian subcommittee on foreign affairs, has been a strong advocate of engaging the government of Myanmar. There are two views on the latest US overtures on Myanmar. One view is that it is a positive step towards a fresh engagement with Myanmar. The other is that talking with the top generals at this moment guilty of flagrant abuses of human rights undermines the US goal of democracy promotion. Clinton has said that though sanctions would continue to remain as part of US policy, these by themselves have not produced the desired result. Though the new US initiative to engage the military junta is laudable, any unilateral action is unlikely to succeed because of historical and geopolitical reasons.
Though the junta may have shown some interest in warming ties, it has a history of stringing visiting Western diplomats along without changing course. Since the 1990s, successive UN special envoys have returned empty-handed and been snubbed by junta leaders. Early this year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tried to meet with San Suu Kyi but was rebuffed by the military government.
Suu Kyi has been in jail or under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years. She was further sentenced additional 18 months of house detention early this year for harbouring an uninvited American veteran of Vietnam war who swam to her lakeside villa. There are suspected to be 2,000 political prisoners who remain locked up. The military junta’s attitude towards ethnic minorities is deplorable. The junta also depends on the country’s rampant narcotic trade.
The military regime has contemptuous distrust of the Western powers, which dates back to nearly 60 years. The military assassinated the Burmese freedom fighter Aung San and sought to consolidate power by isolating the state as a defense against foreign powers bent on re-establishing colonial rule. It is possible that for this single reason the military junta moved the nation’s capital from Yangon to a remote location 200 miles to the north in November 2005. Was it because of possible fear of American-led invasion? At least the junta thought that way. The junta’s decision to retreat the capital to a hill side was probably for the reason that the regime could neither be harassed by domestic opposition fighters nor attacked by Western powers. Thereby, the regime aimed to consolidate its authority and at the same time isolate from the rest of the world.
The US’ engagement policy may be because of the general elections that the junta has promised to hold in 2010. Much so the international community may wish the release of the detained opposition leader and other political prisoners enabling them to campaign in elections, any expectation is bringing legitimacy without inclusive participation seems remote at this moment. However, Obama administration needs to keep in mind that the regime comprises of an elite group of military leaders deeply suspicious of any US action. So much so that even in the wake of Cyclone Nargis when thousands of people succumbed to disease and starvation, the junta refused nearly all Western Humanitarian assistance and in fact did not even allow US ships carrying relief materials to enter Burmese waters out of fear of attack. How to break into this distrust is a huge challenge for Obama.
The bright side of Obama administration’s engagement policy by sending top diplomats to talk with junta as well as opposition leaders marks the end of a Bush administration policy of isolating the regime and seeking to corral Asian powers into punishing it. But it is unlikely to succeed for now.
The question that begs an answer is whether only carrot without stick will make the military junta change course. Past experience does not appear to be so. Pressure may still be needed. If there is to be a political thaw, trading partners such as Thailand and China need to put pressure on the junta. Sanctions are seen as useful tools and are likely to remain so for a while
According to David Steinberg, a Myanmar expert at Georgetown University, the isolation in direct dialogue with Myanmar has also been reflected in US-imposed economic isolation through the imposition of various degrees of sanctions since the failed people’s revolution of 1988. There is a view that the détente between the regime in Myanmar and Washington is meant to counter China’s growing influence in the region. Beijing is Myanmar’s closest ally and the largest economic benefactor. As is well known, Beijing is sourcing in areas much beyond its frontiers for securing uninterrupted supplies of critical raw materials that are needed for its growing domestic economy and using its soft power of economically interlinking supply sources with a view to expand its strategic outreach. The Chinese development of ports in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka may be seen from that perspective. No wonder, China has begun work on a large natural gas pipeline that will bring Myanmar’s robust energy resources into southern China.
Notwithstanding the sincerity of Obama’s engagement strategy, the truism is that the US’ economic leverage over the regime is extremely limited stemming from lack of trade following sanctions. As a result, the US lacks a political enforcement mechanism. As said, unilateral approach is unlikely to yield any positive result and the US ought to vigorously strive to cooperate with other nations if it wants to effect any positive change in Myanmar.
China’s interests may be in pursuance of its long term strategic economic interests. The truism, however, is that China is the only country which provides support to the junta and sells arms to the military. China has blocked any action by the UN Security Council that targets Myanmar. More recently, however, China is getting to feel the negative consequences of sharing its border with a failed state. Thousands of refugees from Myanmar fled into south-west China following clashes between forces and an ethnic group in the north-east region. Since 8 August, more than 10,000 people fled into south-wrest Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, after the military government sent its troops to the Kokang ethnic region to crack down on drug trade. The Kokang region is populated with ethnic Chinese and it is feared that the unrest could break out into a full-scale civil war and lead to instability on China’s south-west frontiers. Though there is in existence of a ceasefire accord between Yangon and 17 ethnic groups, the recent violence threatened the accord to break down. Under the circumstance, the Obama administration needs to leverage the Chinese pressure on the junta on key issues of mitigating cross-border violence into its foreign policy frame and engagement strategy to obtain maximum peace dividend.
Both China and the ASEAN states are not comfortable with the recent developments in Myanmar. Yet, both are unwilling to intervene in the internal affairs of Myanmar. However, since there is a realization both in China and the ASEAN members stare of the negative impact stemming from refugee flows, spill-over armed conflicts or a bustling drug trade, the Obama administration’s engagement strategy ought not to be unilateral backed by threats of sanctions that have in any case proved to be ineffective, but take China and the ASEAN member states on board in engaging the military junta.
The situation in Myanmar is more complex than it appears. The military ruler General Than Shwe is opposed to make any concession to Suu Kyi, whose party won the country’s 1990 elections but those results were annulled by the junta and Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. Under Myanmar’s 2007 constitution, which Suu Kyi’s League for Democracy opposed, one-quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for military officials. Other clauses empower the military to take charge in case of threats to national security in a country that is battling decades-old ethnic insurgencies. Myanmar’s suspected nuclear links with North Korea is yet another worrying factor not only for the US, the ASEAN member states but also to India. If Myanmar’s perception that China is supporting the rebels to stem the refugee problem is strengthened, the military junta might respond positively to the US overtures. As said, a multilateral approach is a better option than a unilateral one by the US to address the Myanmar issue.
Rajaram Panda, Ph.D. is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, a premier think tank on security and defence related issues, in India.
Rajaram Panda, Ph.D. - 11/17/2009
Myanmar has emerged as a new test case for the success of US engagement in Asia, especially when the military junta has shown no sign of complying with the international opinion of restoring democracy and has been tightening control further on its people. No amount of carrot and stick approach by the US has proved successful. The latest volte force in Washington’s Myanmar policy has been applying the carrot approach and abandoning the application of stick as the means for seeking peace dividend.
Even within the ASEAN and for critics of the ASEAN, Myanmar has long served as proof of the organisation’s ineffectuality. The country’s military junta has successfully defied the world and suppressed democracy, oppressed its people and ignored worldwide demand for observing human rights. The ASEAN member countries have refrained from applying economic sanctions because the founding agreement does not allow intervention in the internal affairs of fellow members. However, in the wake of international clamour of restoring democracy in Myanmar and worldwide condemnation of keeping the democracy advocate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, the ASEAN member states are facing critical test in its quest for legitimacy. It is unclear if and how the ASEAN member states will pressure the military regime to accept the organisation’s governing norms. Strategic economic sanctions with the intention to bring the military junta and thereby demonstrating the world that ASEAN is a legitimate and effective regional organization may be a tempting option. But there is also a possibility that such an approach might further harden the stance of the junta and the repressive rule could be more repressive.
Probably having realized the futility of such an option, the Obama administration is seeking to engage the military junta by sending senior leaders to initiate dialogue. Here some parallel can be drawn with the US policy towards North Korea. Both Kim Jong Il of North Korea and General Than Shwe seem to be pursuing the policy of repression at home to extract economic aid from the US and as a bargaining tool to come to the negotiating table.
The last highest-level US diplomat to have visited Myanmar was in 1995 when Madeleine visited Myanmar as the chief US representative to the United Nations. Now under the Obama dispensation, senior US officials were allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. A high-ranking group led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top American diplomat for East Asia, met privately with the Nobel Prize winner in the first week of November 2009. Campbell also held talks with top generals in the government, including Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein and leaders of Suu Kyi’s political party.
Campbell’s visit was a demonstration of US commitment to repair relations between the two countries, while assuring democracy activists US’ support for their cause. It is premature at this stage to expect dramatic change in the regime’s authoritarian tactics, many of which have been in place since the military seized power in 1962.
Campbell’s two-day exploratory mission to Myanmar came nearly a month after US Senator Jim Webb became the highest-ranking US official to have met with the junta and a week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the Obama administration’s plan to engage with the reclusive military junta. Jim Webb, chairman of the Asian subcommittee on foreign affairs, has been a strong advocate of engaging the government of Myanmar. There are two views on the latest US overtures on Myanmar. One view is that it is a positive step towards a fresh engagement with Myanmar. The other is that talking with the top generals at this moment guilty of flagrant abuses of human rights undermines the US goal of democracy promotion. Clinton has said that though sanctions would continue to remain as part of US policy, these by themselves have not produced the desired result. Though the new US initiative to engage the military junta is laudable, any unilateral action is unlikely to succeed because of historical and geopolitical reasons.
Though the junta may have shown some interest in warming ties, it has a history of stringing visiting Western diplomats along without changing course. Since the 1990s, successive UN special envoys have returned empty-handed and been snubbed by junta leaders. Early this year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tried to meet with San Suu Kyi but was rebuffed by the military government.
Suu Kyi has been in jail or under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years. She was further sentenced additional 18 months of house detention early this year for harbouring an uninvited American veteran of Vietnam war who swam to her lakeside villa. There are suspected to be 2,000 political prisoners who remain locked up. The military junta’s attitude towards ethnic minorities is deplorable. The junta also depends on the country’s rampant narcotic trade.
The military regime has contemptuous distrust of the Western powers, which dates back to nearly 60 years. The military assassinated the Burmese freedom fighter Aung San and sought to consolidate power by isolating the state as a defense against foreign powers bent on re-establishing colonial rule. It is possible that for this single reason the military junta moved the nation’s capital from Yangon to a remote location 200 miles to the north in November 2005. Was it because of possible fear of American-led invasion? At least the junta thought that way. The junta’s decision to retreat the capital to a hill side was probably for the reason that the regime could neither be harassed by domestic opposition fighters nor attacked by Western powers. Thereby, the regime aimed to consolidate its authority and at the same time isolate from the rest of the world.
The US’ engagement policy may be because of the general elections that the junta has promised to hold in 2010. Much so the international community may wish the release of the detained opposition leader and other political prisoners enabling them to campaign in elections, any expectation is bringing legitimacy without inclusive participation seems remote at this moment. However, Obama administration needs to keep in mind that the regime comprises of an elite group of military leaders deeply suspicious of any US action. So much so that even in the wake of Cyclone Nargis when thousands of people succumbed to disease and starvation, the junta refused nearly all Western Humanitarian assistance and in fact did not even allow US ships carrying relief materials to enter Burmese waters out of fear of attack. How to break into this distrust is a huge challenge for Obama.
The bright side of Obama administration’s engagement policy by sending top diplomats to talk with junta as well as opposition leaders marks the end of a Bush administration policy of isolating the regime and seeking to corral Asian powers into punishing it. But it is unlikely to succeed for now.
The question that begs an answer is whether only carrot without stick will make the military junta change course. Past experience does not appear to be so. Pressure may still be needed. If there is to be a political thaw, trading partners such as Thailand and China need to put pressure on the junta. Sanctions are seen as useful tools and are likely to remain so for a while
According to David Steinberg, a Myanmar expert at Georgetown University, the isolation in direct dialogue with Myanmar has also been reflected in US-imposed economic isolation through the imposition of various degrees of sanctions since the failed people’s revolution of 1988. There is a view that the détente between the regime in Myanmar and Washington is meant to counter China’s growing influence in the region. Beijing is Myanmar’s closest ally and the largest economic benefactor. As is well known, Beijing is sourcing in areas much beyond its frontiers for securing uninterrupted supplies of critical raw materials that are needed for its growing domestic economy and using its soft power of economically interlinking supply sources with a view to expand its strategic outreach. The Chinese development of ports in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka may be seen from that perspective. No wonder, China has begun work on a large natural gas pipeline that will bring Myanmar’s robust energy resources into southern China.
Notwithstanding the sincerity of Obama’s engagement strategy, the truism is that the US’ economic leverage over the regime is extremely limited stemming from lack of trade following sanctions. As a result, the US lacks a political enforcement mechanism. As said, unilateral approach is unlikely to yield any positive result and the US ought to vigorously strive to cooperate with other nations if it wants to effect any positive change in Myanmar.
China’s interests may be in pursuance of its long term strategic economic interests. The truism, however, is that China is the only country which provides support to the junta and sells arms to the military. China has blocked any action by the UN Security Council that targets Myanmar. More recently, however, China is getting to feel the negative consequences of sharing its border with a failed state. Thousands of refugees from Myanmar fled into south-west China following clashes between forces and an ethnic group in the north-east region. Since 8 August, more than 10,000 people fled into south-wrest Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, after the military government sent its troops to the Kokang ethnic region to crack down on drug trade. The Kokang region is populated with ethnic Chinese and it is feared that the unrest could break out into a full-scale civil war and lead to instability on China’s south-west frontiers. Though there is in existence of a ceasefire accord between Yangon and 17 ethnic groups, the recent violence threatened the accord to break down. Under the circumstance, the Obama administration needs to leverage the Chinese pressure on the junta on key issues of mitigating cross-border violence into its foreign policy frame and engagement strategy to obtain maximum peace dividend.
Both China and the ASEAN states are not comfortable with the recent developments in Myanmar. Yet, both are unwilling to intervene in the internal affairs of Myanmar. However, since there is a realization both in China and the ASEAN members stare of the negative impact stemming from refugee flows, spill-over armed conflicts or a bustling drug trade, the Obama administration’s engagement strategy ought not to be unilateral backed by threats of sanctions that have in any case proved to be ineffective, but take China and the ASEAN member states on board in engaging the military junta.
The situation in Myanmar is more complex than it appears. The military ruler General Than Shwe is opposed to make any concession to Suu Kyi, whose party won the country’s 1990 elections but those results were annulled by the junta and Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. Under Myanmar’s 2007 constitution, which Suu Kyi’s League for Democracy opposed, one-quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for military officials. Other clauses empower the military to take charge in case of threats to national security in a country that is battling decades-old ethnic insurgencies. Myanmar’s suspected nuclear links with North Korea is yet another worrying factor not only for the US, the ASEAN member states but also to India. If Myanmar’s perception that China is supporting the rebels to stem the refugee problem is strengthened, the military junta might respond positively to the US overtures. As said, a multilateral approach is a better option than a unilateral one by the US to address the Myanmar issue.
Rajaram Panda, Ph.D. is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, a premier think tank on security and defence related issues, in India.
*************************************************************
New Zealand Herald - Myanmar cameraman jailed for defying regime
By Peter Popham
9:45 AM Wednesday Nov 18, 2009
If a shocking documentary about the fate of Myanmar's cyclone orphans wins a prestigious video-journalism award in London tomorrow night, it will be some time before one of the men who shot it gets a chance to celebrate.
Six months after shooting on the film was completed, the cameraman known only as T was arrested coming out of an internet café in Yangon and taken to the city's Insein prison.
Last week, after four months in jail, he was told he would be charged with the new offence of filming without government permission, which carries a minimum jail sentence of 10 years.
The Rory Peck awards are given annually to freelance video cameramen and documentary makers who run the sort of risks which Peck, who was shot dead while filming the siege of the Russian parliament in 1993, took every day.
In Myanmar - formerly known as Burma - the challenges are rather different. The risks of getting shot or bombed while filming in the peaceable, agrarian Irrawaddy delta south of Rangoon are low. But, in other respects, this must be one of the most dangerous assignments in the world.
The film follows a number of children orphaned by Cyclone Nargis, which struck southern Myanmar in May 2008, killing 140,000 people in the delta and making 2.4 million homeless, as they struggle to survive in the absence of their parents, and with negligible assistance from the state.
T and his colleague, another Myanmar citizen identified as Z who is currently hiding out in Thailand, even filmed an appearance by General Thein Sein, the junta's Prime Minister, before a group of desperate villagers telling them to get back to work and to expect nothing from the state for some time.
T joins 13 other cameramen working for the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) who have been jailed by the authorities since the Saffron Revolution in 2007, the mass uprising led by monks which shook Asia's most repressive regime to the core.
Ever since the coup d'etat of 1962 which brought General Ne Win to power, Myanmar's ruling generals have done everything in their power to control the images of the country which reach the outside world.
Foreign journalists are almost never let in, and those who enter as tourists are frequently deported. Ubiquitous spies make it immensely risky for those in Myanmar to blow the whistle on the regime.
But the internet and the shrinking size of video cameras have given dissidents new ways of getting their words and pictures out - as the junta discovered in September 2007, when freelance video cameramen working for DVB shot the swelling protest marches of the monks and sent them abroad.
The pictures were picked up by news networks around the world, giving the regime its worst publicity for decades.
To prevent the same thing happening again, the authorities passed a new law banning filming without government permission, and began locking up for long terms those who defied it.
Three of those who filmed the monks' protests are serving long sentences, but the law has done nothing to deter their colleagues.
Khin Maung Win, deputy head of DVB, said, "We had 30 journalists active during the Saffron Revolution, half of whom are now inactive - either in jail, in hiding or in Thailand. But now we have about 100 more, spread all over the country, even in Burma's new capital, Naypyidaw."
He went on, "We don't normally publicise the arrest of our cameramen, but we decided to do so this time because of the awards. This award is very important for us - if we win it will be the first success by Burmese journalists. The Rory Peck award is all about taking risks, which certainly applies to us. And we are proud that we can do something to inform the international audience."
DVB's main activity is beaming a two-hour package of news and current affairs to Myanmar every day by satellite which the regime has found it impossible to block.
With more and more of its workers incarcerated, DVB now faces the growing challenge of supporting them and their families through their long ordeal. Whether or not Orphans of Burma's Cyclone, a Quicksilver Media production for Channel 4's Dispatches, wins tomorrow, the Rory Peck Trust has promised to contribute to the effort of keeping them alive and sane.
By Peter Popham
9:45 AM Wednesday Nov 18, 2009
If a shocking documentary about the fate of Myanmar's cyclone orphans wins a prestigious video-journalism award in London tomorrow night, it will be some time before one of the men who shot it gets a chance to celebrate.
Six months after shooting on the film was completed, the cameraman known only as T was arrested coming out of an internet café in Yangon and taken to the city's Insein prison.
Last week, after four months in jail, he was told he would be charged with the new offence of filming without government permission, which carries a minimum jail sentence of 10 years.
The Rory Peck awards are given annually to freelance video cameramen and documentary makers who run the sort of risks which Peck, who was shot dead while filming the siege of the Russian parliament in 1993, took every day.
In Myanmar - formerly known as Burma - the challenges are rather different. The risks of getting shot or bombed while filming in the peaceable, agrarian Irrawaddy delta south of Rangoon are low. But, in other respects, this must be one of the most dangerous assignments in the world.
The film follows a number of children orphaned by Cyclone Nargis, which struck southern Myanmar in May 2008, killing 140,000 people in the delta and making 2.4 million homeless, as they struggle to survive in the absence of their parents, and with negligible assistance from the state.
T and his colleague, another Myanmar citizen identified as Z who is currently hiding out in Thailand, even filmed an appearance by General Thein Sein, the junta's Prime Minister, before a group of desperate villagers telling them to get back to work and to expect nothing from the state for some time.
T joins 13 other cameramen working for the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) who have been jailed by the authorities since the Saffron Revolution in 2007, the mass uprising led by monks which shook Asia's most repressive regime to the core.
Ever since the coup d'etat of 1962 which brought General Ne Win to power, Myanmar's ruling generals have done everything in their power to control the images of the country which reach the outside world.
Foreign journalists are almost never let in, and those who enter as tourists are frequently deported. Ubiquitous spies make it immensely risky for those in Myanmar to blow the whistle on the regime.
But the internet and the shrinking size of video cameras have given dissidents new ways of getting their words and pictures out - as the junta discovered in September 2007, when freelance video cameramen working for DVB shot the swelling protest marches of the monks and sent them abroad.
The pictures were picked up by news networks around the world, giving the regime its worst publicity for decades.
To prevent the same thing happening again, the authorities passed a new law banning filming without government permission, and began locking up for long terms those who defied it.
Three of those who filmed the monks' protests are serving long sentences, but the law has done nothing to deter their colleagues.
Khin Maung Win, deputy head of DVB, said, "We had 30 journalists active during the Saffron Revolution, half of whom are now inactive - either in jail, in hiding or in Thailand. But now we have about 100 more, spread all over the country, even in Burma's new capital, Naypyidaw."
He went on, "We don't normally publicise the arrest of our cameramen, but we decided to do so this time because of the awards. This award is very important for us - if we win it will be the first success by Burmese journalists. The Rory Peck award is all about taking risks, which certainly applies to us. And we are proud that we can do something to inform the international audience."
DVB's main activity is beaming a two-hour package of news and current affairs to Myanmar every day by satellite which the regime has found it impossible to block.
With more and more of its workers incarcerated, DVB now faces the growing challenge of supporting them and their families through their long ordeal. Whether or not Orphans of Burma's Cyclone, a Quicksilver Media production for Channel 4's Dispatches, wins tomorrow, the Rory Peck Trust has promised to contribute to the effort of keeping them alive and sane.
*************************************************************
The New Nation - 'Gas pipeline to Myanmar likely to be revived’
Internet Edition. November 19, 2009
BSS, New Delhi
Talks for a gas pipeline from Bengal to Myanmar via Bangladesh are likely to be revived as Dhaka has renewed its interest.
However, the pipeline is unlikely to figure in the agenda of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her first visit to India next month after being elected with an overwhelming mandate in December 2008, a leading English daily "The Telegraph" said in a recent report.
Telegraph said, during her visit, Hasina is expected to wrest some trade concessions as well as ink a transit deal that will give Bangladesh access to Nepal and Bhutan by road and rail, while opening up the port of Ashuganj for Indian goods meant for the Northeast.
In the project, gas produced by Indian Public Sector Units in Myanmar will be transported to India, and the negotiations will be tri- partite.
After years of stalling on negotiations, the Bangladesh government, which does not enjoy the best of relations with Myanmar, has sent signals of its willingness to talk business - it will allow the pipeline in return for a royalty in hard currency for giving passage, the report further said.
The pipeline could cost India about $600 million, of which 60 per cent would be invested in Bangladesh. The South Asian nation would also earn nearly $100 million as carrier fee every year.
Officials said, the talks, which are still to take off, did not envisage the evacuation of Bangladesh's gas to India.
"We are very clear that India only wants to evacuate gas from the gas fields in Myanmar through Arakan, Bangladesh and into Bengal to feed industry in eastern and northern India. We have no plans to seek gas from Bangladesh. Rather, Bangladesh could, if it so desires, buy excess gas from our fields."
Opposition legislators of Bangladesh are against sales to India. In January 2005, energy ministers of the three countries had met in Yangon to discuss the construction of the pipeline, with a total length of 950km, and signed a draft memorandum of understanding.
The pipeline was expected to enter Bangladesh at the Brahmanbaria border and Bengal from Rajshahi.
Officials said, the pipeline could help evacuate gas from the Shwe gasfields as well as from new finds, in which Indian firms participate.
In June, ONGC Videsh Ltd, GAIL (India) Limited and South Korea's Daewoo had announced the discovery of a huge field in Block A-3, offshore Myanmar.
The field is located adjacent to Block A-1, where an estimated 113-170bn cubic metres of reserves had been found, the Telegraph report said.
Internet Edition. November 19, 2009
BSS, New Delhi
Talks for a gas pipeline from Bengal to Myanmar via Bangladesh are likely to be revived as Dhaka has renewed its interest.
However, the pipeline is unlikely to figure in the agenda of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her first visit to India next month after being elected with an overwhelming mandate in December 2008, a leading English daily "The Telegraph" said in a recent report.
Telegraph said, during her visit, Hasina is expected to wrest some trade concessions as well as ink a transit deal that will give Bangladesh access to Nepal and Bhutan by road and rail, while opening up the port of Ashuganj for Indian goods meant for the Northeast.
In the project, gas produced by Indian Public Sector Units in Myanmar will be transported to India, and the negotiations will be tri- partite.
After years of stalling on negotiations, the Bangladesh government, which does not enjoy the best of relations with Myanmar, has sent signals of its willingness to talk business - it will allow the pipeline in return for a royalty in hard currency for giving passage, the report further said.
The pipeline could cost India about $600 million, of which 60 per cent would be invested in Bangladesh. The South Asian nation would also earn nearly $100 million as carrier fee every year.
Officials said, the talks, which are still to take off, did not envisage the evacuation of Bangladesh's gas to India.
"We are very clear that India only wants to evacuate gas from the gas fields in Myanmar through Arakan, Bangladesh and into Bengal to feed industry in eastern and northern India. We have no plans to seek gas from Bangladesh. Rather, Bangladesh could, if it so desires, buy excess gas from our fields."
Opposition legislators of Bangladesh are against sales to India. In January 2005, energy ministers of the three countries had met in Yangon to discuss the construction of the pipeline, with a total length of 950km, and signed a draft memorandum of understanding.
The pipeline was expected to enter Bangladesh at the Brahmanbaria border and Bengal from Rajshahi.
Officials said, the pipeline could help evacuate gas from the Shwe gasfields as well as from new finds, in which Indian firms participate.
In June, ONGC Videsh Ltd, GAIL (India) Limited and South Korea's Daewoo had announced the discovery of a huge field in Block A-3, offshore Myanmar.
The field is located adjacent to Block A-1, where an estimated 113-170bn cubic metres of reserves had been found, the Telegraph report said.
*************************************************************
Asian Tribune - The Battle of the Ulterior Motives
Thu, 2009-11-19 00:18 — editor
By Kanbawza Win
The Washington Post” of the 7th instant decries, “Results of US-Burma Meeting is Unclear.” How can it be clear when the two sides, the Burmese Junta and the American representatives Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, together with Scot Marciel, Deputy Assistant Secretary witted against each other with mammoth ulterior motives?
Perhaps Campbell`s team missed Bertil Lintner's writings in the Wall Street Journal, “Westerners who believe they can engage the generals to make them change their ways are naïve. Burma’s ruling generals don't receive Western visitors because they are interested in learning anything from them. They talk to outsiders because they think they can use them to get critics off their backs and remain in power. Foreigners, whether they advocate "engagement" or sanctions, have always overestimated their own importance. Burmese’s generals listen only to themselves and any change would have to come from within—and not from sweet-talking.”
Sen. Jim Webb's visit to Burma in August, with “the business overruling the conscious” like attitude, was hailed by some foreign diplomats as a "breakthrough, " and now we have Campbell and Marciel came looking rather tough but ended up going back only with the picture of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for their photo album.
One cannot forget that Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat, United Nations' special envoy, who desperately tried for five successive years starting in 2002 to initiate the talks with the Junta and the leader of the pro democracy forces. In 2006 in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, he admitted he had failed in his job "to help broker an agreement between the government and opposition that would lead the country towards democracy." His successor Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari, was equally unsuccessful. So is Ban Ki-Moon the UN Secretary General.
Leave the UN aside, because the Junta did not respect them, as perhaps they consider UN to be part of NATO (No Action Talk Only) and let us look at the initiative of US. In February 1994, Congressman Bill Richardson—now the governor of New Mexico —paid a highly publicized visit to Burma.
They met prodemocracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—who also then was under house arrest—and intelligence Chief Gen. Khin Nyunt. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, then as well as now, expressed her willingness to talk to the Junta. It was hailed as a breakthrough but a second visit to Burma in May 1995, Mr. Richardson stated at a press conference in Bangkok that his trip had been "unsuccessful, frustrating and disappointing. Here's my conclusion after my trip. There is serious repression, regression and retrenchment by the [junta] in the area of human rights and democratization." What more proof is wanted than Campbell, and Marciel is following the same road.
There is no heart and soul on both sides as each one to get the better of the other and leave Burma's impoverished millions to endure decades of life under the iron grip of a secretive and paranoid regime that has fattened itself off the country's immense natural resources, from natural gas to rubies. Overall, Obama's Asia policy has been largely driven by events and domestic priorities rather than by an overarching strategic vision, as in the case of Burma to rescue democracy.
The Obama team is being forced to coordinate closely with China on financial matters in response to the financial crisis. Passing a cap and trade bill at home means that America need China to sign up to a global climate change pact; Americans will chafe at a costly bill if the world's largest carbon emitters do not agree to carbon reductions.
Hence the Obama team attempted a new policy on Burma. The idea is to find a way to engage the Burmese Junta which would strengthen relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member. But the policy change has been overtaken by events. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was unfairly punished when an American swam across a lake to her residence. And the Junta began a new round of repression, as its leader’s jail and harasses political opponents in the run up to their 2010 "elections."
Surely President Obama could not radically shift Burma policy. Rather, adjust to US relations with ASEAN and Burma has been only marginal. And as part of the broader attempt to build stronger relations with Southeast Asia, the administration signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and will make his presence felt in Singapore.
Visits to Southeast Asia by Secretary Hillary Clinton and her deputy, Jim Steinberg, demonstrate a desire to deepen American engagement with that region. But it is unlikely that engaging Burma or signing the TAC will increase America's regional influence, not with Burma.
The Burmese regime's distrust of Western powers can be seen as moving the capital to the jungle hideout of Naypyidaw, the raison d’ etre being where it could not be neither harassed by domestic opposition fighters nor attacked by Western powers -- consolidation and isolation in their most pure forms. The U.S. must understand that the regime with which it hopes to engage is comprised of an elite group of military leaders deeply suspicious of any U.S. action.
In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, as thousands and thousands of Burmese succumbed to disease and starvation, the Junta got the heart to block nearly all Western humanitarian assistance and would not allow U.S. ships carrying aid to enter Burmese waters, out of fear of attack. Breaking through such distrust will be a difficult task.
However, assuming the Junta is amenable to direct talks with the U.S., the question remains of what the United States might hope to accomplish. Even if senior level talks do take place, and the junta -- putting aside its strategy of the past 50 years -- actually grants concessions, such as releasing political prisoners or conducting free elections, how can the U.S. be sure that it will then comply? After years of sanctions and lack of trade with Burma, the U.S. is devoid of economic leverage over the regime and lacks a political enforcement mechanism
China which has supported Burma in every respect is starting to feel the negative consequences of sharing its border with a failed state and expressed its displeasure over the Burmese Junta's ongoing fight with eastern ethnic nationalities that send thousands of refugees streaming into China. If China decides to pressure the Junta on key issues in order to mitigate cross-border violence, it certainly wields more leverage than the U.S. However, China's commitment to a policy of non-interference and the new pipe line makes such pressure unlikely. Will the US cooperate with China?
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can be the real linchpin for change in Burma pressuring them to enforce the democratic principles inscribed in the organization's charter, of which Burma is a signatory. ASEAN is just beginning to see that an unstable and repressive Burmese regime can have a negative impact on Southeast Asian countries, whether it is through refugee flows, spill-over armed conflicts or a bustling drug trade. However, a summit statement by members of the US-ASEAN Summit takes a soft line on Burma, failing to call for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, despite efforts by the US clearly climaxed the American hypocrisy and proof that that America has no say in ASEAN affairs.
It seems that, internal US political realities prevented because of other, more important foreign and domestic crises require expenditure of greater administration political capital. Another fact is it must be prompted by some significant amelioration of harsh Junta rule in Burma. The US president can justify a policy shift, but only in response to significant Burmese reforms which we see no sign up to this day. The policy change requires the support of significant bipartisan support in the Congress and on the Burmese side it must be construe that a change occurred because of US pressure. Even if the change occur the vested interest of the US companies together with the Generals’ cronies will complain but it will be better for the region and the people of Burma and enhanced the Obama's administration.
Thu, 2009-11-19 00:18 — editor
By Kanbawza Win
The Washington Post” of the 7th instant decries, “Results of US-Burma Meeting is Unclear.” How can it be clear when the two sides, the Burmese Junta and the American representatives Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, together with Scot Marciel, Deputy Assistant Secretary witted against each other with mammoth ulterior motives?
Perhaps Campbell`s team missed Bertil Lintner's writings in the Wall Street Journal, “Westerners who believe they can engage the generals to make them change their ways are naïve. Burma’s ruling generals don't receive Western visitors because they are interested in learning anything from them. They talk to outsiders because they think they can use them to get critics off their backs and remain in power. Foreigners, whether they advocate "engagement" or sanctions, have always overestimated their own importance. Burmese’s generals listen only to themselves and any change would have to come from within—and not from sweet-talking.”
Sen. Jim Webb's visit to Burma in August, with “the business overruling the conscious” like attitude, was hailed by some foreign diplomats as a "breakthrough, " and now we have Campbell and Marciel came looking rather tough but ended up going back only with the picture of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for their photo album.
One cannot forget that Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat, United Nations' special envoy, who desperately tried for five successive years starting in 2002 to initiate the talks with the Junta and the leader of the pro democracy forces. In 2006 in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, he admitted he had failed in his job "to help broker an agreement between the government and opposition that would lead the country towards democracy." His successor Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari, was equally unsuccessful. So is Ban Ki-Moon the UN Secretary General.
Leave the UN aside, because the Junta did not respect them, as perhaps they consider UN to be part of NATO (No Action Talk Only) and let us look at the initiative of US. In February 1994, Congressman Bill Richardson—now the governor of New Mexico —paid a highly publicized visit to Burma.
They met prodemocracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—who also then was under house arrest—and intelligence Chief Gen. Khin Nyunt. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, then as well as now, expressed her willingness to talk to the Junta. It was hailed as a breakthrough but a second visit to Burma in May 1995, Mr. Richardson stated at a press conference in Bangkok that his trip had been "unsuccessful, frustrating and disappointing. Here's my conclusion after my trip. There is serious repression, regression and retrenchment by the [junta] in the area of human rights and democratization." What more proof is wanted than Campbell, and Marciel is following the same road.
There is no heart and soul on both sides as each one to get the better of the other and leave Burma's impoverished millions to endure decades of life under the iron grip of a secretive and paranoid regime that has fattened itself off the country's immense natural resources, from natural gas to rubies. Overall, Obama's Asia policy has been largely driven by events and domestic priorities rather than by an overarching strategic vision, as in the case of Burma to rescue democracy.
The Obama team is being forced to coordinate closely with China on financial matters in response to the financial crisis. Passing a cap and trade bill at home means that America need China to sign up to a global climate change pact; Americans will chafe at a costly bill if the world's largest carbon emitters do not agree to carbon reductions.
Hence the Obama team attempted a new policy on Burma. The idea is to find a way to engage the Burmese Junta which would strengthen relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member. But the policy change has been overtaken by events. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was unfairly punished when an American swam across a lake to her residence. And the Junta began a new round of repression, as its leader’s jail and harasses political opponents in the run up to their 2010 "elections."
Surely President Obama could not radically shift Burma policy. Rather, adjust to US relations with ASEAN and Burma has been only marginal. And as part of the broader attempt to build stronger relations with Southeast Asia, the administration signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and will make his presence felt in Singapore.
Visits to Southeast Asia by Secretary Hillary Clinton and her deputy, Jim Steinberg, demonstrate a desire to deepen American engagement with that region. But it is unlikely that engaging Burma or signing the TAC will increase America's regional influence, not with Burma.
The Burmese regime's distrust of Western powers can be seen as moving the capital to the jungle hideout of Naypyidaw, the raison d’ etre being where it could not be neither harassed by domestic opposition fighters nor attacked by Western powers -- consolidation and isolation in their most pure forms. The U.S. must understand that the regime with which it hopes to engage is comprised of an elite group of military leaders deeply suspicious of any U.S. action.
In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, as thousands and thousands of Burmese succumbed to disease and starvation, the Junta got the heart to block nearly all Western humanitarian assistance and would not allow U.S. ships carrying aid to enter Burmese waters, out of fear of attack. Breaking through such distrust will be a difficult task.
However, assuming the Junta is amenable to direct talks with the U.S., the question remains of what the United States might hope to accomplish. Even if senior level talks do take place, and the junta -- putting aside its strategy of the past 50 years -- actually grants concessions, such as releasing political prisoners or conducting free elections, how can the U.S. be sure that it will then comply? After years of sanctions and lack of trade with Burma, the U.S. is devoid of economic leverage over the regime and lacks a political enforcement mechanism
China which has supported Burma in every respect is starting to feel the negative consequences of sharing its border with a failed state and expressed its displeasure over the Burmese Junta's ongoing fight with eastern ethnic nationalities that send thousands of refugees streaming into China. If China decides to pressure the Junta on key issues in order to mitigate cross-border violence, it certainly wields more leverage than the U.S. However, China's commitment to a policy of non-interference and the new pipe line makes such pressure unlikely. Will the US cooperate with China?
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can be the real linchpin for change in Burma pressuring them to enforce the democratic principles inscribed in the organization's charter, of which Burma is a signatory. ASEAN is just beginning to see that an unstable and repressive Burmese regime can have a negative impact on Southeast Asian countries, whether it is through refugee flows, spill-over armed conflicts or a bustling drug trade. However, a summit statement by members of the US-ASEAN Summit takes a soft line on Burma, failing to call for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, despite efforts by the US clearly climaxed the American hypocrisy and proof that that America has no say in ASEAN affairs.
It seems that, internal US political realities prevented because of other, more important foreign and domestic crises require expenditure of greater administration political capital. Another fact is it must be prompted by some significant amelioration of harsh Junta rule in Burma. The US president can justify a policy shift, but only in response to significant Burmese reforms which we see no sign up to this day. The policy change requires the support of significant bipartisan support in the Congress and on the Burmese side it must be construe that a change occurred because of US pressure. Even if the change occur the vested interest of the US companies together with the Generals’ cronies will complain but it will be better for the region and the people of Burma and enhanced the Obama's administration.
*************************************************************
The Manila Times - Myanmar pushes Asean cooperation
Thursday, 19 November 2009 00:00
YANGON: Myanmar official media stressed on Wednesday the need for cooperation among Asean members themselves and between the Asean nations and their three partners, believing that these cooperation will bring further development to agricultural and forest sectors of the region. The New Light of Myanmar made the emphasis in its editorial following the signing of a memorandum of understanding by leaders of the delegations from 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) plus three on development agricultural, livestock breeding and forest products (2009-2014) at the 31st meeting of Asean Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry held in Bandasri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam last week.
According to the MOU, Asean member nations are to increase their cooperation in such measures as
human resources development vital for production and trading of agricultural and forest products, exchange of technology and standardization and fumigation, the editorial said.
At the meeting, Myanmar delegation discussed the reduction of disadvantages of climate change for food sufficiency, regional cooperation and construction of infrastructures for development of agricultural and forestry sectors.
It also discussed dissemination of modern technology, conducting training courses for research and development and human resources development and practice of international standards and work procedures, it added.
Meanwhile, Myanmar will host an Asean Farmers’ Week in Yangon next week, aimed at promoting exchange of views and experiences among farmers in the regional members.
Dozens of delegates from Asean member countries will attend the 15th event running for five days from November 23 to 27, local reports said.
Asean delegates are arranged to make study trip to agricultural museum and orchid farms in Yangon division, crop plantation farms in Bago division and fishery undertakings in Ayeyawaddy division.
Myanmar has been striving for development of agricultural and rural economy as agriculture, livestock breeding and forestry are the main industries of the 70 percent of the nation’s population.
The country is also working in concert to ensure abundant supply of food by making the best use of the nation’s favorable aquatic, terrestrial and climate conditions.
Thursday, 19 November 2009 00:00
YANGON: Myanmar official media stressed on Wednesday the need for cooperation among Asean members themselves and between the Asean nations and their three partners, believing that these cooperation will bring further development to agricultural and forest sectors of the region. The New Light of Myanmar made the emphasis in its editorial following the signing of a memorandum of understanding by leaders of the delegations from 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) plus three on development agricultural, livestock breeding and forest products (2009-2014) at the 31st meeting of Asean Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry held in Bandasri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam last week.
According to the MOU, Asean member nations are to increase their cooperation in such measures as
human resources development vital for production and trading of agricultural and forest products, exchange of technology and standardization and fumigation, the editorial said.
At the meeting, Myanmar delegation discussed the reduction of disadvantages of climate change for food sufficiency, regional cooperation and construction of infrastructures for development of agricultural and forestry sectors.
It also discussed dissemination of modern technology, conducting training courses for research and development and human resources development and practice of international standards and work procedures, it added.
Meanwhile, Myanmar will host an Asean Farmers’ Week in Yangon next week, aimed at promoting exchange of views and experiences among farmers in the regional members.
Dozens of delegates from Asean member countries will attend the 15th event running for five days from November 23 to 27, local reports said.
Asean delegates are arranged to make study trip to agricultural museum and orchid farms in Yangon division, crop plantation farms in Bago division and fishery undertakings in Ayeyawaddy division.
Myanmar has been striving for development of agricultural and rural economy as agriculture, livestock breeding and forestry are the main industries of the 70 percent of the nation’s population.
The country is also working in concert to ensure abundant supply of food by making the best use of the nation’s favorable aquatic, terrestrial and climate conditions.
*************************************************************
Bangkok Post - EDITORIAL: Will the junta heed Obama?
Published: 18/11/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
If the government of Burma is truly serious about staging an election next year, it must seriously consider the words and actions of US President Barack Obama.
In the first confrontation by a US leader with Burmese dictators in 43 years, Mr Obama sent two messages at once. He said the generals must free their political prisoners, first and foremost Aung San Suu Kyi. He then made it clear that the new US approach to Burma has clear limits; the sanctions on the military regime will stay in place.
The meeting between Mr Obama and Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein was not particularly dramatic. For one thing, it took place behind closed doors, during the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum last weekend in Singapore. For another, it was not a face-to-face meeting. The reference to Burma by Mr Obama was part of a general presentation, to which all the Asean heads of government were present. His references to Burma, however, were the most important part of his remarks - for Burma, for Asean and for outsiders.
After its meeting with the president, Asean showed its usual restraint. The US-Asean statement made no mention of political prisoners. With predictable faint-heartedness, the statement called on Burma to hold a free election. This is simply dodging the issue.
There are clear steps that Burma must take if it wants anyone to believe its election is free. Mr Obama stated the first one: release of all political prisoners. Mrs Suu Kyi has become the symbol of the suffering and brutality caused by the military dictators since 1962. But thousands of Burmese are imprisoned today for nothing more dangerous than peaceful opposition to the army junta and its government. So long as one of them remains locked up, the planned election cannot be free.
Mrs Suu Kyi has spent most of her life locked up since she had the audacity to win the only free election in recent Burmese history, in 1990. She is the clear leader of the loyal opposition in Burma. This is because of her own bravery. But the generals also have tortured, jailed, intimidated, exiled (or worse) almost all members of the peaceful opposition who dared to speak out against the military regime.
It will be a major step if all the political prisoners are freed, and if Mrs Suu Kyi is allowed to speak openly to voters prior to the planned 2010 elections. It will not, however, be any guarantee of what Asean refers to vaguely as a "free election". The generals will also have to allow foreign observers if they wish the world to take their election seriously - the foreign media and non-governmental groups, if not a formal poll watch by, say, the United Nations. The voting will have to be free of intimidation.
Equally importantly, the entrenched and comfortable military junta must abide explicitly by the will of the voters. In 1990, the regime simply ignored the poll victory by Mrs Suu Kyi's party. That kept the army in power. It also more deeply convinced the domestic opposition and foreign friends of Burma that the country was so firmly under the control of despots that it had to be cut off from normal trade and diplomacy with the rest of the world.
The US president has made it clear to Mr Thein Sein and to all other Asean leaders that the United States is open to a change in attitude from the military leaders.
Next year's election is Burma's chance to regain the respect of the world. It is up to the generals to seize the opportunity.
Published: 18/11/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
If the government of Burma is truly serious about staging an election next year, it must seriously consider the words and actions of US President Barack Obama.
In the first confrontation by a US leader with Burmese dictators in 43 years, Mr Obama sent two messages at once. He said the generals must free their political prisoners, first and foremost Aung San Suu Kyi. He then made it clear that the new US approach to Burma has clear limits; the sanctions on the military regime will stay in place.
The meeting between Mr Obama and Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein was not particularly dramatic. For one thing, it took place behind closed doors, during the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum last weekend in Singapore. For another, it was not a face-to-face meeting. The reference to Burma by Mr Obama was part of a general presentation, to which all the Asean heads of government were present. His references to Burma, however, were the most important part of his remarks - for Burma, for Asean and for outsiders.
After its meeting with the president, Asean showed its usual restraint. The US-Asean statement made no mention of political prisoners. With predictable faint-heartedness, the statement called on Burma to hold a free election. This is simply dodging the issue.
There are clear steps that Burma must take if it wants anyone to believe its election is free. Mr Obama stated the first one: release of all political prisoners. Mrs Suu Kyi has become the symbol of the suffering and brutality caused by the military dictators since 1962. But thousands of Burmese are imprisoned today for nothing more dangerous than peaceful opposition to the army junta and its government. So long as one of them remains locked up, the planned election cannot be free.
Mrs Suu Kyi has spent most of her life locked up since she had the audacity to win the only free election in recent Burmese history, in 1990. She is the clear leader of the loyal opposition in Burma. This is because of her own bravery. But the generals also have tortured, jailed, intimidated, exiled (or worse) almost all members of the peaceful opposition who dared to speak out against the military regime.
It will be a major step if all the political prisoners are freed, and if Mrs Suu Kyi is allowed to speak openly to voters prior to the planned 2010 elections. It will not, however, be any guarantee of what Asean refers to vaguely as a "free election". The generals will also have to allow foreign observers if they wish the world to take their election seriously - the foreign media and non-governmental groups, if not a formal poll watch by, say, the United Nations. The voting will have to be free of intimidation.
Equally importantly, the entrenched and comfortable military junta must abide explicitly by the will of the voters. In 1990, the regime simply ignored the poll victory by Mrs Suu Kyi's party. That kept the army in power. It also more deeply convinced the domestic opposition and foreign friends of Burma that the country was so firmly under the control of despots that it had to be cut off from normal trade and diplomacy with the rest of the world.
The US president has made it clear to Mr Thein Sein and to all other Asean leaders that the United States is open to a change in attitude from the military leaders.
Next year's election is Burma's chance to regain the respect of the world. It is up to the generals to seize the opportunity.
*************************************************************
Myanmar stresses cooperation among ASEAN members plus three for sectoral development
www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-18 10:57:34
YANGON, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar official media stressed on Wednesday the need for cooperation among ASEAN members themselves and between the ASEAN nations and their three partners, believing that these cooperation will bring further development to agricultural and forest sectors of the region.
The New Light of Myanmar made the emphasis in its editorial following the signing of a memorandum of understanding by leaders of the delegations from 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus three on development agricultural, livestock breeding and forest products (2009-2014) at the 31st meeting of ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry held in Bandasri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam last week.
According to the MoU, ASEAN member nations are to increase their cooperation in such measures as human resources development vital for production and trading of agricultural and forest products, exchange of technology and standardization and fumigation, the editorial said.
At the meeting, Myanmar delegation discussed the reduction of disadvantages of climate change for food sufficiency, regional cooperation and construction of infrastructures for development of agricultural and forestry sectors.
It also discussed dissemination of modern technology, conducting training courses for research and development and human resources development and practice of international standards and work procedures, it added.
Meanwhile, Myanmar will host an ASEAN Farmers' Week in Yangon next week, aimed at promoting exchange of views and experiences among farmers in the regional members.
Dozens of delegates from ASEAN member countries will attend the 15th event running for five days from Nov. 23 to 27, local reports said.
ASEAN delegates are arranged to make study trip to agricultural museum and orchid farms in Yangon division, crop plantation farms in Bago division and fishery undertakings in Ayeyawaddy division.
Myanmar has been striving for development of agricultural and rural economy as agriculture, livestock breeding and forestry are the main industries of the 70 percent of the nation's population.
The country is also working in concert to ensure abundant supply of food by making the best use of the nation's favorable aquatic, terrestrial and climate conditions.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-18 10:57:34
YANGON, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar official media stressed on Wednesday the need for cooperation among ASEAN members themselves and between the ASEAN nations and their three partners, believing that these cooperation will bring further development to agricultural and forest sectors of the region.
The New Light of Myanmar made the emphasis in its editorial following the signing of a memorandum of understanding by leaders of the delegations from 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus three on development agricultural, livestock breeding and forest products (2009-2014) at the 31st meeting of ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry held in Bandasri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam last week.
According to the MoU, ASEAN member nations are to increase their cooperation in such measures as human resources development vital for production and trading of agricultural and forest products, exchange of technology and standardization and fumigation, the editorial said.
At the meeting, Myanmar delegation discussed the reduction of disadvantages of climate change for food sufficiency, regional cooperation and construction of infrastructures for development of agricultural and forestry sectors.
It also discussed dissemination of modern technology, conducting training courses for research and development and human resources development and practice of international standards and work procedures, it added.
Meanwhile, Myanmar will host an ASEAN Farmers' Week in Yangon next week, aimed at promoting exchange of views and experiences among farmers in the regional members.
Dozens of delegates from ASEAN member countries will attend the 15th event running for five days from Nov. 23 to 27, local reports said.
ASEAN delegates are arranged to make study trip to agricultural museum and orchid farms in Yangon division, crop plantation farms in Bago division and fishery undertakings in Ayeyawaddy division.
Myanmar has been striving for development of agricultural and rural economy as agriculture, livestock breeding and forestry are the main industries of the 70 percent of the nation's population.
The country is also working in concert to ensure abundant supply of food by making the best use of the nation's favorable aquatic, terrestrial and climate conditions.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Junta Conscripts More Child Soldiers
By LAWI WENG - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Burmese regime forces have conscripted 112 underage youths in the last seven months, according to child labor activists in Burma.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Aye Myint, a leading labor activist in Pegu Division, said 112 school-age youths have been recruited by the junta army between May and November.
Their families have lodged letters of complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Rangoon, he said.
Two families of conscripted youths lodged letters of complaint with the ILO on Monday. The first youth is Kyaw Min Oo, 16, from Thanatpin Township in Pegu Division and the second is Ye Noung Hein, 15, from Shwe Phy Thar Township in Rangoon Division.
Kyaw Min Oo was seized in August while he and his father slept at a train station in Pegu. He was taken to No.4 military training school at Pinlaung in Shan State.
Ye Noung Hein was taken in 2008, but he ran away from his battalion in October and has become a fugitive unable to return home. His father lodged a letter with the ILO asking the Burmese regime’s military to offer his son an amnesty.
ILO representatives were unavailable for comment when The Irrawaddy tried to contact their Rangoon office on Monday.
According to human rights groups, the Burmese military are still conscripting underage youths.
The children are threatened and beaten if they refuse to agree to undergo military training. After training, many are sent to areas where the army is in conflict with ethnic groups.
A lot of underage recruitment happens in Pegu Division, where many routes intersect. School-age children are recruited at train stations, bus depots, tea shops, outside video halls and movie cinemas or even while walking home at night.
Many child recruits taken from different places are brought to Pegu, Aye Myint said.
According to the “Annual Report of the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict” in March, the Burmese junta “continues to screen and release underage children found in its armed forces during the training process.”
Sixty-eight children detected in various military training schools were released to their parents or guardians by the Burmese military, the report said.
The report said the ILO, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross, was instrumental in the release of 12 underage recruits, had verified the release of 23 children “mostly from involuntary military enrolment” and was waiting for government responses to a further 14 cases.
In a report released in October, the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (SCWG) welcomed progress made by the Burmese regime to release underage recruits from the armed forces but “expressed concern regarding the number of children remaining in armed groups and the reports of new recruitments by armed forces and armed groups.”
The SCWG also expressed a wish for “enhanced cooperation” from the [Burmese] government without further delay.
In a response to the SCWG published on Nov. 9, The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) called for “real progress in protecting children affected by armed conflict” in Burma.
“The vast majority of violations against children are committed by the state armed forces and associated armed groups,” the report said.
The KHRG report calls for the SCWG to monitor the situation in Burma more closely and for the government of Burma to demonstrate “measurable and real progress in ending abuses against children.”
Child recruitment in Burma is not a new problem. In 2002, the New York-based Human Rights Watch estimated that as many as 70,000 conscripts in the regime’s army may have been less than 18-years-old.
By LAWI WENG - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Burmese regime forces have conscripted 112 underage youths in the last seven months, according to child labor activists in Burma.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Aye Myint, a leading labor activist in Pegu Division, said 112 school-age youths have been recruited by the junta army between May and November.
Their families have lodged letters of complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Rangoon, he said.
Two families of conscripted youths lodged letters of complaint with the ILO on Monday. The first youth is Kyaw Min Oo, 16, from Thanatpin Township in Pegu Division and the second is Ye Noung Hein, 15, from Shwe Phy Thar Township in Rangoon Division.
Kyaw Min Oo was seized in August while he and his father slept at a train station in Pegu. He was taken to No.4 military training school at Pinlaung in Shan State.
Ye Noung Hein was taken in 2008, but he ran away from his battalion in October and has become a fugitive unable to return home. His father lodged a letter with the ILO asking the Burmese regime’s military to offer his son an amnesty.
ILO representatives were unavailable for comment when The Irrawaddy tried to contact their Rangoon office on Monday.
According to human rights groups, the Burmese military are still conscripting underage youths.
The children are threatened and beaten if they refuse to agree to undergo military training. After training, many are sent to areas where the army is in conflict with ethnic groups.
A lot of underage recruitment happens in Pegu Division, where many routes intersect. School-age children are recruited at train stations, bus depots, tea shops, outside video halls and movie cinemas or even while walking home at night.
Many child recruits taken from different places are brought to Pegu, Aye Myint said.
According to the “Annual Report of the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict” in March, the Burmese junta “continues to screen and release underage children found in its armed forces during the training process.”
Sixty-eight children detected in various military training schools were released to their parents or guardians by the Burmese military, the report said.
The report said the ILO, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross, was instrumental in the release of 12 underage recruits, had verified the release of 23 children “mostly from involuntary military enrolment” and was waiting for government responses to a further 14 cases.
In a report released in October, the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (SCWG) welcomed progress made by the Burmese regime to release underage recruits from the armed forces but “expressed concern regarding the number of children remaining in armed groups and the reports of new recruitments by armed forces and armed groups.”
The SCWG also expressed a wish for “enhanced cooperation” from the [Burmese] government without further delay.
In a response to the SCWG published on Nov. 9, The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) called for “real progress in protecting children affected by armed conflict” in Burma.
“The vast majority of violations against children are committed by the state armed forces and associated armed groups,” the report said.
The KHRG report calls for the SCWG to monitor the situation in Burma more closely and for the government of Burma to demonstrate “measurable and real progress in ending abuses against children.”
Child recruitment in Burma is not a new problem. In 2002, the New York-based Human Rights Watch estimated that as many as 70,000 conscripts in the regime’s army may have been less than 18-years-old.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Junta Confiscates Land in Arakan State
By BA SAW TIN - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
About 50 traditional hand-dug oil wells and 10 acres of land were confiscated on Nov. 14 by the Burmese authorities in Kyuakphyu Township in Arakan State in western Burma, according to local sources.
The sources told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the landowners are afraid they will not receive any compensation from the Burmese authorities. Police in Kyuakphyu Township told them that the order to confiscate property came from Naypyidaw.
Maung Phyu, one of the landowners, said: “They came with guns to confiscate our property. We couldn’t say anything to them. This property is our legacy. We rely on it. We’ve lost it now, and we have no jobs.”
Land confiscation by the government is a common practice in Arakan State, according to the Arakan Rivers Network (ARN) based in Thailand.
An ARN report, “Holding Our Land,” published in February, said that 53,000 acres of land in Arakan State have been confiscated. Most of the property involved oil wells.
One Korean and two Chinese oil companies operate in Arakan State: China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS).
Local sources said they believed the confiscated land will be given to CNOOC to explore for oil on the site.
The oil companies and local landowners are often in business conflicts because oil companies promise to pay compensation after they take over land, but they don’t pay fair prices, according to the Arakan Oil Watch (AOW) based in Thailand.
Tun Thar Aung, a Burmese migrant in Mae Sot, told The Irrawaddy his land was confiscated by CNOOC. The company told him to sign a contract and it promised to pay compensation, he said, but no payment was ever made.
Land confiscation has increased in Arakan State since 2007 when authorities evicted many landowners in Kyuakphyu Township, according to AOW. About 70 villagers fled to Thailand and Malaysia after protests were made against CNOOC.
Arakan rights activists said the oil and gas projects in Arakan State have not benefited landowners or villagers, and the companies violate human rights and cause environment damage.
Meanwhile, CNPC announced on Nov. 3 that it had begun construction on the gas pipeline which will run through Burma into Yunnan Province in China. The Burmese government has agreed to sell gas to China in a contract that will provide up to US $30 billion to the Burmese government.
By BA SAW TIN - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
About 50 traditional hand-dug oil wells and 10 acres of land were confiscated on Nov. 14 by the Burmese authorities in Kyuakphyu Township in Arakan State in western Burma, according to local sources.
The sources told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the landowners are afraid they will not receive any compensation from the Burmese authorities. Police in Kyuakphyu Township told them that the order to confiscate property came from Naypyidaw.
Maung Phyu, one of the landowners, said: “They came with guns to confiscate our property. We couldn’t say anything to them. This property is our legacy. We rely on it. We’ve lost it now, and we have no jobs.”
Land confiscation by the government is a common practice in Arakan State, according to the Arakan Rivers Network (ARN) based in Thailand.
An ARN report, “Holding Our Land,” published in February, said that 53,000 acres of land in Arakan State have been confiscated. Most of the property involved oil wells.
One Korean and two Chinese oil companies operate in Arakan State: China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS).
Local sources said they believed the confiscated land will be given to CNOOC to explore for oil on the site.
The oil companies and local landowners are often in business conflicts because oil companies promise to pay compensation after they take over land, but they don’t pay fair prices, according to the Arakan Oil Watch (AOW) based in Thailand.
Tun Thar Aung, a Burmese migrant in Mae Sot, told The Irrawaddy his land was confiscated by CNOOC. The company told him to sign a contract and it promised to pay compensation, he said, but no payment was ever made.
Land confiscation has increased in Arakan State since 2007 when authorities evicted many landowners in Kyuakphyu Township, according to AOW. About 70 villagers fled to Thailand and Malaysia after protests were made against CNOOC.
Arakan rights activists said the oil and gas projects in Arakan State have not benefited landowners or villagers, and the companies violate human rights and cause environment damage.
Meanwhile, CNPC announced on Nov. 3 that it had begun construction on the gas pipeline which will run through Burma into Yunnan Province in China. The Burmese government has agreed to sell gas to China in a contract that will provide up to US $30 billion to the Burmese government.
*************************************************************
Shan women’s group reveals dark side of tourism
by Usa Pichai
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 18:46
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A Shan women’s group revealed the “dark side” and the ugly face of tourism promotion in Shan State by the Burmese military junta in their latest ‘guidebook’ released on Tuesday.
The Shan Women Action Network (SWAN) on Tuesday launched a guidebook “Forbidden Glimpses of Shan State”. It gives tourists an insight and an alternative view of Shan State by providing a pictorial exposé of the deliberate neglect, destruction and reinvention of local cultural and historical sites.
A majority of war-torn Shan State is off limits for tourists, but some areas are open to foreign travellers. Tourists are only permitted to visit three areas: Lashio road in the north, Taunggyi-Inlay Lake area in the south-west, and the route from Tachilek to Kengtung and Mong La in the east.
The guidebook pointed out that there are a number of things that the junta does not want tourists to see. These include; “over 150 Burmese infantry battalions deployed in the state which are authorized to live on the land: confiscation of farms, extortion and taxing villagers, and requisitioning free labour. Various ethnic groups continue to resist the regime in the hope of getting justice and equal rights for their people.”
The guide depicts how Burma’s military regime is erasing the last vestiges of palaces of the 34 former Shan principalities. This includes the demolition of the historic Kengtung Palace in 1991 to make way for a garish modern hotel.
The destruction of remnants of former Shan self-rule contrasts with the regime’s construction of new monuments that extol ancient Burmese kings and numerous replicas of the “Shwedagon” pagodas across Shan State. Photographs of these lavish structures are juxtaposed with images of historic local Shan temples that have been desecrated and left derelict during the Burmese Army’s ongoing scorched earth campaigns.
“We have not only been robbed of our rights, lands and resources but the regime is also robbing us of our culture and history,” said SWAN spokesperson Moan Kaein in the statement released on Tuesday. “We want visitors to open their eyes to the repression going on around them, even in the cultural sites they are visiting.”
The book also depicts scenic areas off-limits to visitors, which are threatened by the regime’s development plans, and locations of Shan jails where prominent Burmese political prisoners are being incarcerated far from their homes.
The group added that the regime has consistently refused to engage in meaningful political dialogue with these ethnic groups in Shan State. Instead it is carrying out massive anti-insurgency campaigns to try and crush them.
Due to the suppression, from 1996 to 1998, over 300,000 villagers from southern and central Shan State were forced to relocate. Many sought refuge in Thailand, while troops are licensed to arrest, torture, rape and kill villagers suspected of supporting the resistance, the report stated.
by Usa Pichai
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 18:46
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A Shan women’s group revealed the “dark side” and the ugly face of tourism promotion in Shan State by the Burmese military junta in their latest ‘guidebook’ released on Tuesday.
The Shan Women Action Network (SWAN) on Tuesday launched a guidebook “Forbidden Glimpses of Shan State”. It gives tourists an insight and an alternative view of Shan State by providing a pictorial exposé of the deliberate neglect, destruction and reinvention of local cultural and historical sites.
A majority of war-torn Shan State is off limits for tourists, but some areas are open to foreign travellers. Tourists are only permitted to visit three areas: Lashio road in the north, Taunggyi-Inlay Lake area in the south-west, and the route from Tachilek to Kengtung and Mong La in the east.
The guidebook pointed out that there are a number of things that the junta does not want tourists to see. These include; “over 150 Burmese infantry battalions deployed in the state which are authorized to live on the land: confiscation of farms, extortion and taxing villagers, and requisitioning free labour. Various ethnic groups continue to resist the regime in the hope of getting justice and equal rights for their people.”
The guide depicts how Burma’s military regime is erasing the last vestiges of palaces of the 34 former Shan principalities. This includes the demolition of the historic Kengtung Palace in 1991 to make way for a garish modern hotel.
The destruction of remnants of former Shan self-rule contrasts with the regime’s construction of new monuments that extol ancient Burmese kings and numerous replicas of the “Shwedagon” pagodas across Shan State. Photographs of these lavish structures are juxtaposed with images of historic local Shan temples that have been desecrated and left derelict during the Burmese Army’s ongoing scorched earth campaigns.
“We have not only been robbed of our rights, lands and resources but the regime is also robbing us of our culture and history,” said SWAN spokesperson Moan Kaein in the statement released on Tuesday. “We want visitors to open their eyes to the repression going on around them, even in the cultural sites they are visiting.”
The book also depicts scenic areas off-limits to visitors, which are threatened by the regime’s development plans, and locations of Shan jails where prominent Burmese political prisoners are being incarcerated far from their homes.
The group added that the regime has consistently refused to engage in meaningful political dialogue with these ethnic groups in Shan State. Instead it is carrying out massive anti-insurgency campaigns to try and crush them.
Due to the suppression, from 1996 to 1998, over 300,000 villagers from southern and central Shan State were forced to relocate. Many sought refuge in Thailand, while troops are licensed to arrest, torture, rape and kill villagers suspected of supporting the resistance, the report stated.
*************************************************************
Newspaper typo leads to journalist arrest
Nov 18, 2009 (DVB)–A glaring typo in one of Burma’s leading newspapers has landed a journalist in detention and temporarily delayed the printing run of the publication.
The Mandalay-based Yadanabon, one of only four newspapers in military-ruled Burma, appeared on Saturday to promote the notion that anti-government violence can spur change in the country.
The literal translation of a government mantra that regularly appears in state-run media in Burma proffers that “Democracy cannot be achieved from riots”. In the 13 November issue of the Yadanabon, however, “cannot” is exchanged for “can”.
According to a Mandalay-based journalist, a staff worker at the newspaper was detained and questioned by police the following day, causing publication of the newspaper to temporarily stop.
Locals in Mandalay say the Yadanabon, which shares a name with Burma’s first ever newspaper, published in the 19th century, is owned by a military official.
Burmese newspapers, such as the English-language New Light of Myanmar, are littered with Orwellian mantras that instruct citizens to “oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State” or “Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy”.
Apart from a handful of privately-owned magazines that nonetheless come under strict censorship by the ruling junta, all newspapers are state owned and often act as the government mouthpiece.
Front-page articles seldom deviate away from coverage of ribbon-cutting ceremonies or diplomatic visits to the handful of countries still allied with Burma, while any material or opinion critical of the government is strictly prohibited.
Furthermore, all published material in Burma must first be approved by the Press Registration and Scrutiny Division (PRSD), which often takes days to pass material through the censor board.
Last month the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) ranked Burma 171 out of 175 countries in its annual Press Freedom Index, with only Iran buffering it from the ‘infernal trio’ of Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
Reporting by DVB
Nov 18, 2009 (DVB)–A glaring typo in one of Burma’s leading newspapers has landed a journalist in detention and temporarily delayed the printing run of the publication.
The Mandalay-based Yadanabon, one of only four newspapers in military-ruled Burma, appeared on Saturday to promote the notion that anti-government violence can spur change in the country.
The literal translation of a government mantra that regularly appears in state-run media in Burma proffers that “Democracy cannot be achieved from riots”. In the 13 November issue of the Yadanabon, however, “cannot” is exchanged for “can”.
According to a Mandalay-based journalist, a staff worker at the newspaper was detained and questioned by police the following day, causing publication of the newspaper to temporarily stop.
Locals in Mandalay say the Yadanabon, which shares a name with Burma’s first ever newspaper, published in the 19th century, is owned by a military official.
Burmese newspapers, such as the English-language New Light of Myanmar, are littered with Orwellian mantras that instruct citizens to “oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State” or “Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy”.
Apart from a handful of privately-owned magazines that nonetheless come under strict censorship by the ruling junta, all newspapers are state owned and often act as the government mouthpiece.
Front-page articles seldom deviate away from coverage of ribbon-cutting ceremonies or diplomatic visits to the handful of countries still allied with Burma, while any material or opinion critical of the government is strictly prohibited.
Furthermore, all published material in Burma must first be approved by the Press Registration and Scrutiny Division (PRSD), which often takes days to pass material through the censor board.
Last month the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) ranked Burma 171 out of 175 countries in its annual Press Freedom Index, with only Iran buffering it from the ‘infernal trio’ of Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
Reporting by DVB
*************************************************************
50 percent rise in Burma forced labour
Nov 18, 2009 (DVB)–Complaints of forced labour in Burma have risen by nearly 50 percent in the past five months, with more than half of these stemming from the recruitment of youths into the army.
The statistics, published in a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), show that mounting pressure on the Burmese government to eliminate forced labour is yet to find its mark.
The ILO criticized in June a clause in the Burmese constitution, ratified in 2008, that appeared to justify use of forced labour as a punishment for crimes, or in “duties assigned by the Union in accord with the law in the interest of the public”.
The total number of complaints received by the ILO as of 28 October stands at 223, while the figure for May 2009 was 152. Since the first complaint of under-age recruitment into the army was received in February 2007, the number has risen to 102.
Following ILO intervention, “59 children have been discharged from the military, 30 cases are still under Government investigation or are the subject of ongoing communication, and nine await ILO initial assessment prior to submission,” the report said.
Forced labour in Burma comes in varying forms, from hard labour used in the renovation of roads and infrastructure to use of civilians as porters or ‘minesweepers’ by the Burmese army.
The report however warns against the assumption that an increase complaints automatically corresponds to wider use of forced labour in Burma.
“[The increase] appears to result from heightened awareness generally of citizens’ rights under the law, the maturing and expansion of the facilitators’ network, and an increased readiness to present complaints,” it said.
Despite the establishment of the Supplementary Understanding, an agreement between the ILO and Burmese government that complainants will not be harassed, the organisation has acknowledged that retaliation does take place.
At least 11 “serious cases of apparent harassment and judicial retaliation” against complainants and facilitators has taken place since May, all which relate to complaints of forced labour by farmers in Burma’s central Magwe divison. The harassment includes “lengthy and intense interrogations and judicial action,” the report says.
“It would thus appear that there is a serious ‘disconnect’ between the desire of the central government authorities to stop the use of forced labour and the behaviour of the local [civilian and military] authorities.
The Burmese government has however permitted the ILO to carry out awareness-raising activities that include both civil and military authorities, while an interview with the ILO’s Burma liaison officer, Steve Marshall, was published in a biweekly journal in Burma.
Reporting by Francis Wade
Nov 18, 2009 (DVB)–Complaints of forced labour in Burma have risen by nearly 50 percent in the past five months, with more than half of these stemming from the recruitment of youths into the army.
The statistics, published in a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), show that mounting pressure on the Burmese government to eliminate forced labour is yet to find its mark.
The ILO criticized in June a clause in the Burmese constitution, ratified in 2008, that appeared to justify use of forced labour as a punishment for crimes, or in “duties assigned by the Union in accord with the law in the interest of the public”.
The total number of complaints received by the ILO as of 28 October stands at 223, while the figure for May 2009 was 152. Since the first complaint of under-age recruitment into the army was received in February 2007, the number has risen to 102.
Following ILO intervention, “59 children have been discharged from the military, 30 cases are still under Government investigation or are the subject of ongoing communication, and nine await ILO initial assessment prior to submission,” the report said.
Forced labour in Burma comes in varying forms, from hard labour used in the renovation of roads and infrastructure to use of civilians as porters or ‘minesweepers’ by the Burmese army.
The report however warns against the assumption that an increase complaints automatically corresponds to wider use of forced labour in Burma.
“[The increase] appears to result from heightened awareness generally of citizens’ rights under the law, the maturing and expansion of the facilitators’ network, and an increased readiness to present complaints,” it said.
Despite the establishment of the Supplementary Understanding, an agreement between the ILO and Burmese government that complainants will not be harassed, the organisation has acknowledged that retaliation does take place.
At least 11 “serious cases of apparent harassment and judicial retaliation” against complainants and facilitators has taken place since May, all which relate to complaints of forced labour by farmers in Burma’s central Magwe divison. The harassment includes “lengthy and intense interrogations and judicial action,” the report says.
“It would thus appear that there is a serious ‘disconnect’ between the desire of the central government authorities to stop the use of forced labour and the behaviour of the local [civilian and military] authorities.
The Burmese government has however permitted the ILO to carry out awareness-raising activities that include both civil and military authorities, while an interview with the ILO’s Burma liaison officer, Steve Marshall, was published in a biweekly journal in Burma.
Reporting by Francis Wade
No comments:
Post a Comment