Scoop - Detention Of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi A ‘Blow’ To Democratic Efforts – UN Expert
Monday, 5 October 2009, 12:49 pm
Press Release: United Nations
New York, Oct 2 2009 2:10PM - Myanmar’s Government has missed an opportunity to prove its commitment to holding inclusive elections by extending the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, effectively barring her from participating in next year’s polls, says an independent United Nations human rights expert.
“The continuation of her house arrest is a blow to the Government’s seven-step road map to democracy,” Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, writes in a new report.
Ms. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was sentenced in August to an additional 18 months of house arrest. She was reportedly convicted of violating state security laws after an uninvited United States citizen gained access to her home.
Mr. Quintana, who reports to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, notes that the additional 18-month house arrest bars her from actively participating in the national elections planned for 2010.
He “regrets that the Government of Myanmar missed another opportunity to prove its commitment to hold inclusive, free and fair elections.”
In a report issued following his first visit to the country last year, Mr. Quintana proposed that four core human rights elements be completed before national elections are held in 2010.
They are the revision of domestic laws that limit fundamental rights, the progressive release of the estimated 2,000 prisoners of conscience still in detention, the reform and training of the military so that it conforms with human rights, and changes to the judiciary so that it is fully independent.
Mr. Quintana states that while the Government expressed its readiness to implement the four core elements during his mission to Myanmar in February, “their effective implementation and completion has yet to be seen.”
Therefore, he reiterates that these elements be implemented, reminding the Government that they are part of its international human rights obligations, and are “absolutely necessary to be completed in order for the seven-step road map to democracy to be credible and founded on internationally recognized democratic values.”
He also recommends, among other things, that the Government take prompt measures to establish accountability for “widespread and systematic” human rights violations and combat the prevailing impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators.
The report also highlights the situation of prisoners of conscience, their right to a fair trial and due process of law and conditions of their detention, as well as freedom of expression, assembly and association in the context of the 2010 elections. In addition to the trial of Ms. Suu Kyi, the period under review was marked by “harsh long sentences,” ranging from 24 to 104 years, given to more than 400 prisoners of conscience, according to the report.
While Mr. Quintana welcomes the recent release of six political prisoners in September, and of 29 others in February, he says that, compared to the 2,160 currently in detention, “these releases lack proportionality.”
The report also contains a review of internal conflicts, the protection of civilians, discrimination and the need for humanitarian assistance.
The Special Rapporteur, who serves in an independent and unpaid capacity, also voices regret that his request to visit Myanmar a few months ago was not accepted by the Government, and says he hopes to return before the end of 2009.
Monday, 5 October 2009, 12:49 pm
Press Release: United Nations
New York, Oct 2 2009 2:10PM - Myanmar’s Government has missed an opportunity to prove its commitment to holding inclusive elections by extending the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, effectively barring her from participating in next year’s polls, says an independent United Nations human rights expert.
“The continuation of her house arrest is a blow to the Government’s seven-step road map to democracy,” Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, writes in a new report.
Ms. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was sentenced in August to an additional 18 months of house arrest. She was reportedly convicted of violating state security laws after an uninvited United States citizen gained access to her home.
Mr. Quintana, who reports to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, notes that the additional 18-month house arrest bars her from actively participating in the national elections planned for 2010.
He “regrets that the Government of Myanmar missed another opportunity to prove its commitment to hold inclusive, free and fair elections.”
In a report issued following his first visit to the country last year, Mr. Quintana proposed that four core human rights elements be completed before national elections are held in 2010.
They are the revision of domestic laws that limit fundamental rights, the progressive release of the estimated 2,000 prisoners of conscience still in detention, the reform and training of the military so that it conforms with human rights, and changes to the judiciary so that it is fully independent.
Mr. Quintana states that while the Government expressed its readiness to implement the four core elements during his mission to Myanmar in February, “their effective implementation and completion has yet to be seen.”
Therefore, he reiterates that these elements be implemented, reminding the Government that they are part of its international human rights obligations, and are “absolutely necessary to be completed in order for the seven-step road map to democracy to be credible and founded on internationally recognized democratic values.”
He also recommends, among other things, that the Government take prompt measures to establish accountability for “widespread and systematic” human rights violations and combat the prevailing impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators.
The report also highlights the situation of prisoners of conscience, their right to a fair trial and due process of law and conditions of their detention, as well as freedom of expression, assembly and association in the context of the 2010 elections. In addition to the trial of Ms. Suu Kyi, the period under review was marked by “harsh long sentences,” ranging from 24 to 104 years, given to more than 400 prisoners of conscience, according to the report.
While Mr. Quintana welcomes the recent release of six political prisoners in September, and of 29 others in February, he says that, compared to the 2,160 currently in detention, “these releases lack proportionality.”
The report also contains a review of internal conflicts, the protection of civilians, discrimination and the need for humanitarian assistance.
The Special Rapporteur, who serves in an independent and unpaid capacity, also voices regret that his request to visit Myanmar a few months ago was not accepted by the Government, and says he hopes to return before the end of 2009.
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Japan Today - Okada urges Myanmar to release all political prisoners before election
Sunday 04th October, 03:10 AM JST
SIEM REAP — Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Saturday urged Myanmar’s military government to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners in the country before a general election set for next year.
Okada made the demand during a meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win on the sidelines of a foreign ministers meeting involving Japan and Mekong region countries, saying political prisoners including Suu Kyi should be allowed to participate in the election.
Sunday 04th October, 03:10 AM JST
SIEM REAP — Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Saturday urged Myanmar’s military government to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners in the country before a general election set for next year.
Okada made the demand during a meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win on the sidelines of a foreign ministers meeting involving Japan and Mekong region countries, saying political prisoners including Suu Kyi should be allowed to participate in the election.
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OCTOBER 6, 2009, 10:19 A.M. ET
Wall Street Journal - Bangladesh To Avoid Exploration In Disputed Territory
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Bangladesh on Tuesday played down concerns of mounting tensions with neighbor Myanmar on a maritime dispute over a high profile oil and gas exploration region.
Bangladesh's New Age newspaper earlier in the day reported that Myanmar had warned ConocoPhillips (COP) against exploring a Bangladesh offshore block the company won in a recent licensing round.
Bangladesh officials said that along with the warning, Myanmar had mobilized additional soldiers, sparking tension on the two countries' border, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
"This is an old dispute between us. We are not aware of any troop movement by Myanmar, with regard to this dispute at least," a senior official at Bangladesh's ministry of foreign affairs told Dow Jones Newswires.
He said Bangladesh would take care to avoid trespassing on disputed territory, even if it means modifying the exploration blocks to exclude regions claimed by Myanmar.
"We are showing respect to Myanmar's maritime claims - regardless of whether they can be claimed under law, we will not infringe them," he said.
Bangladesh will direct winners of oil acreage, including ConocoPhillips, to avoid exploration activity in the disputed areas, said Muqtadir Ali, chairman of state-run Petrobangla. "We need to get the exact coordinates of the so-called disputed boundaries to do that," he said. "We are yet to sign the production sharing contract with the companies; we will sort of these issues before signing."
Bangladesh wants to explore its offshore regions to secure future energy supplies, but being geographically sandwiched between India and Myanmar, faces competing interest from its two neighbors for a large chunk of the maritime territory.
"There are some concerns on this issue...but from our side (the energy ministry), we are proceeding with allocation of blocks to the two companies," Bangladesh Energy Secretary Mohammad Mohsin told Dow Jones Newswires.
Executives from the U.S. energy giant informed the Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corp., or PetroBangla, on Monday of the letter of warning from Myanmar, the newspaper reported, citing sources present at the meeting. PetroBangla had earlier awarded rights to explore the block to ConocoPhillips. Ali declined to say whether Petrobangla had been informed by Conocophillips about the letter.
The ConocoPhillips executives also asked to discuss the matter with Bangladesh's foreign ministry, the newspaper cited an unnamed official as saying.
-By Gurdeep Singh, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-9386 9495; gurdeep.singh@dowjones.com
Wall Street Journal - Bangladesh To Avoid Exploration In Disputed Territory
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Bangladesh on Tuesday played down concerns of mounting tensions with neighbor Myanmar on a maritime dispute over a high profile oil and gas exploration region.
Bangladesh's New Age newspaper earlier in the day reported that Myanmar had warned ConocoPhillips (COP) against exploring a Bangladesh offshore block the company won in a recent licensing round.
Bangladesh officials said that along with the warning, Myanmar had mobilized additional soldiers, sparking tension on the two countries' border, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
"This is an old dispute between us. We are not aware of any troop movement by Myanmar, with regard to this dispute at least," a senior official at Bangladesh's ministry of foreign affairs told Dow Jones Newswires.
He said Bangladesh would take care to avoid trespassing on disputed territory, even if it means modifying the exploration blocks to exclude regions claimed by Myanmar.
"We are showing respect to Myanmar's maritime claims - regardless of whether they can be claimed under law, we will not infringe them," he said.
Bangladesh will direct winners of oil acreage, including ConocoPhillips, to avoid exploration activity in the disputed areas, said Muqtadir Ali, chairman of state-run Petrobangla. "We need to get the exact coordinates of the so-called disputed boundaries to do that," he said. "We are yet to sign the production sharing contract with the companies; we will sort of these issues before signing."
Bangladesh wants to explore its offshore regions to secure future energy supplies, but being geographically sandwiched between India and Myanmar, faces competing interest from its two neighbors for a large chunk of the maritime territory.
"There are some concerns on this issue...but from our side (the energy ministry), we are proceeding with allocation of blocks to the two companies," Bangladesh Energy Secretary Mohammad Mohsin told Dow Jones Newswires.
Executives from the U.S. energy giant informed the Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corp., or PetroBangla, on Monday of the letter of warning from Myanmar, the newspaper reported, citing sources present at the meeting. PetroBangla had earlier awarded rights to explore the block to ConocoPhillips. Ali declined to say whether Petrobangla had been informed by Conocophillips about the letter.
The ConocoPhillips executives also asked to discuss the matter with Bangladesh's foreign ministry, the newspaper cited an unnamed official as saying.
-By Gurdeep Singh, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-9386 9495; gurdeep.singh@dowjones.com
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Hindu Business Line - Yangon warns US oil co against hunt in Bay of Bengal
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
DHAKA: A fresh confrontation appears to be brewing between Myanmar and Bangladesh as Yangon has warned the US energy giant ConocoPhillips against exploring an offshore block for Dhaka in Bay of Bengal, which it said were in disputed waters.
Bangladesh officials claimed that Myanmar along with issuing the warning had mobilised extra troops on frontiers sparking tension on the border.
An official said the US oil company sought to take up the matter with the foreign ministry. He said the company had received the warning letter claiming that the offshore Block 11, awarded to it by Bangladesh, was located within Myanmar's maritime bounda ry.
“The ConocoPhillips' officials want to discuss the issue with the foreign ministry. We have taken steps so that a meeting can be held this week,” the New Age reported quoting official who said that the overlapping claim areas was “not significantly large ”.
The US company earlier informed the state-run Petrobangla, which awarded it the block, about the Yangon warning asking it not to take over offshore Block 11.
The development came as reports from the South Eastern frontiers, bordering junta-ruled Myanmar, said Yangon mobilised extra border troops in the frontline sparking tension in the area over the past two weeks. - PTI
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
DHAKA: A fresh confrontation appears to be brewing between Myanmar and Bangladesh as Yangon has warned the US energy giant ConocoPhillips against exploring an offshore block for Dhaka in Bay of Bengal, which it said were in disputed waters.
Bangladesh officials claimed that Myanmar along with issuing the warning had mobilised extra troops on frontiers sparking tension on the border.
An official said the US oil company sought to take up the matter with the foreign ministry. He said the company had received the warning letter claiming that the offshore Block 11, awarded to it by Bangladesh, was located within Myanmar's maritime bounda ry.
“The ConocoPhillips' officials want to discuss the issue with the foreign ministry. We have taken steps so that a meeting can be held this week,” the New Age reported quoting official who said that the overlapping claim areas was “not significantly large ”.
The US company earlier informed the state-run Petrobangla, which awarded it the block, about the Yangon warning asking it not to take over offshore Block 11.
The development came as reports from the South Eastern frontiers, bordering junta-ruled Myanmar, said Yangon mobilised extra border troops in the frontline sparking tension in the area over the past two weeks. - PTI
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Myanmar builds good surroundings of education for youth
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-06 11:07:56
by Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is building good surroundings of education for youth in order to enable them become precious gems for the country, Brigadier-General Kyaw Myint, deputy minister of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, said here on Tuesday.
"With equitable access to education in rural and urban areas the government was nurturing outstanding youth," the deputy minister told a three-day meeting of the 15th ASEAN Youth Day being held in Nay Pyi Taw.
Kyaw Myint said Myanmar was working closely together with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the fields of economy, social welfare, education and culture with harmonious efforts. Regional peace and stability was gaining a good momentum in the course of development through ASEAN's united efforts.
He attributed the ability of the member nations in tackling difficulties of regional challenge to their constant united endeavors.
He pointed out that the ASEAN Social Culture Community (ASCC), which was drawn and is being implemented, places special emphasis on conducting workshops and courses, and holding of youth meetings for exchanging views.
He said that the ASEAN youth meeting plays a leading role in the implementation of the ASCC, stressing that ASEAN youth represents the most important part of the entire population of regional grouping.
A ceremony to present prizes for outstanding regional youth was held on the occasion.
Youth delegates from Brunei, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand took part in the meeting which will continue up to Wednesday.
In April this year, a five-day ASEAN workshop on youth, culture and development, hosted by Myanmar, was held in the country's second largest city of Mandalay.
The workshop, jointly organized by Thailand-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, Regional Center for Archaeology and Fine Arts, and ASEAN Foundation, was attended by dozens of youth delegates from the Myanmar Ministry of Culture, National Culture and Fine Arts Universities and some social organizations.
Meanwhile, ASEAN's culture- and arts-related ministers agreed to enhance the regional cooperation in the areas of culture and arts at a meeting of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA) held in Nay Pyi Taw in January last year.
The areas of cooperation was outlined as human resources development, protection, preservation and promotion of ASEAN cultural heritage, and development of small and medium cultural enterprises.
ASEAN ministers endorsed the work plan of the working groups set up by related ASEAN senior officials, agreeing that funding for cultural cooperation activities be streamed and broadened.
The regional ministers resolved to enhance the cultural profile of ASEAN among the member states and internationally, then report said, adding that at the AMCA+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) meeting attached, the regional ministers supported China's proposal to expedite the drafting of an implementation plan for cultural cooperation between ASEAN and China, welcoming the prospect of a memorandum of understanding between ASEAN and South Korea to formalize cultural cooperation and Japan's initiatives on such cooperation with ASEAN including the proposed ASEAN+3 computer graphics art gallery.
The AMCA met in Nay Pyi Taw to promote a deeper understanding of the region's civilization, arts and culture, and was aimed at contributing towards the emergence of an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community by 2015. The roadmap for the community called for preservation and promotion of the region's cultural heritage and cultural identity.
Meanwhile, an ASEAN Youth Leader Conference was launched in June this year in Jakarta, Indonesia, which discussed the world's economy, held exchange of experiences and reviewed the impact of the life style and future condition.
A cultural festival also took place on the occasion with each ASEAN member demonstrating its traditional music and dances.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-06 11:07:56
by Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is building good surroundings of education for youth in order to enable them become precious gems for the country, Brigadier-General Kyaw Myint, deputy minister of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, said here on Tuesday.
"With equitable access to education in rural and urban areas the government was nurturing outstanding youth," the deputy minister told a three-day meeting of the 15th ASEAN Youth Day being held in Nay Pyi Taw.
Kyaw Myint said Myanmar was working closely together with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the fields of economy, social welfare, education and culture with harmonious efforts. Regional peace and stability was gaining a good momentum in the course of development through ASEAN's united efforts.
He attributed the ability of the member nations in tackling difficulties of regional challenge to their constant united endeavors.
He pointed out that the ASEAN Social Culture Community (ASCC), which was drawn and is being implemented, places special emphasis on conducting workshops and courses, and holding of youth meetings for exchanging views.
He said that the ASEAN youth meeting plays a leading role in the implementation of the ASCC, stressing that ASEAN youth represents the most important part of the entire population of regional grouping.
A ceremony to present prizes for outstanding regional youth was held on the occasion.
Youth delegates from Brunei, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand took part in the meeting which will continue up to Wednesday.
In April this year, a five-day ASEAN workshop on youth, culture and development, hosted by Myanmar, was held in the country's second largest city of Mandalay.
The workshop, jointly organized by Thailand-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, Regional Center for Archaeology and Fine Arts, and ASEAN Foundation, was attended by dozens of youth delegates from the Myanmar Ministry of Culture, National Culture and Fine Arts Universities and some social organizations.
Meanwhile, ASEAN's culture- and arts-related ministers agreed to enhance the regional cooperation in the areas of culture and arts at a meeting of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA) held in Nay Pyi Taw in January last year.
The areas of cooperation was outlined as human resources development, protection, preservation and promotion of ASEAN cultural heritage, and development of small and medium cultural enterprises.
ASEAN ministers endorsed the work plan of the working groups set up by related ASEAN senior officials, agreeing that funding for cultural cooperation activities be streamed and broadened.
The regional ministers resolved to enhance the cultural profile of ASEAN among the member states and internationally, then report said, adding that at the AMCA+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) meeting attached, the regional ministers supported China's proposal to expedite the drafting of an implementation plan for cultural cooperation between ASEAN and China, welcoming the prospect of a memorandum of understanding between ASEAN and South Korea to formalize cultural cooperation and Japan's initiatives on such cooperation with ASEAN including the proposed ASEAN+3 computer graphics art gallery.
The AMCA met in Nay Pyi Taw to promote a deeper understanding of the region's civilization, arts and culture, and was aimed at contributing towards the emergence of an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community by 2015. The roadmap for the community called for preservation and promotion of the region's cultural heritage and cultural identity.
Meanwhile, an ASEAN Youth Leader Conference was launched in June this year in Jakarta, Indonesia, which discussed the world's economy, held exchange of experiences and reviewed the impact of the life style and future condition.
A cultural festival also took place on the occasion with each ASEAN member demonstrating its traditional music and dances.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Myanmar needs peace, stability for democratization
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-04 10:59:41
YANGON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar official media said on Sunday that the country needs peace and stability for a successful holding of the upcoming multi-party general election next year, the 5th step of its democratization process under a seven-step roadmap.
"Myanmar is now in democratic transition. The new constitution has been approved. Multi-party general election will be held next year and a new government will be formed by a Hluttaw (parliament) in accord with the constitution," said the New Light of Myanmar in its editorial.
Holding that sanctions pose a barrier to the economic and social development of the people of developing countries, the editorial said some powerful nations have been resorting to economic sanctions to influence the political and economic systems of those countries.
"They can not only adversely affect people from different backgrounds but also make a form of violence," the editorial commented.
The editorial complained that sanctions are being employed to pressure Myanmar politically.
Dealing with climate change across the world which brings about natural disaster as well as many other issues which the world is facing such as food crisis, energy security, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorist attacks and pandemic disease, the editorial stressed the need for global nations to make cooperative efforts to overcome these problems and challenges.
"Although many countries, large and small, are facing the financial and economic crisis, the small developing countries have been the hardest-hit," the editorial said, calling on the developed countries to increase their overseas development aid to the developing countries.
For over a decade, the United States and some European Union countries have imposed various sanctions including economic sanction on Myanmar out of political reasons.
Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein demanded at the recent U.N. General Assembly in New York an end to economic sanctions, saying that sanctions are being employed as a political tool against Myanmar and such acts must be stopped.
Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under 18-month house confinement, proposed in a letter dated Sept. 25 to Senior-GeneralThan Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to cooperate with the government in seeking ways of removing Western sanctions on Myanmar and also asking in her letter to meet and discuss with U.S. and European Union countries' diplomats as well as Australian's on the issue.
In response to Aung San Suu Kyi's letter, the government arranged a meeting between Liaison Minister U Aung Kyi and her on Saturday for further talks.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-04 10:59:41
YANGON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar official media said on Sunday that the country needs peace and stability for a successful holding of the upcoming multi-party general election next year, the 5th step of its democratization process under a seven-step roadmap.
"Myanmar is now in democratic transition. The new constitution has been approved. Multi-party general election will be held next year and a new government will be formed by a Hluttaw (parliament) in accord with the constitution," said the New Light of Myanmar in its editorial.
Holding that sanctions pose a barrier to the economic and social development of the people of developing countries, the editorial said some powerful nations have been resorting to economic sanctions to influence the political and economic systems of those countries.
"They can not only adversely affect people from different backgrounds but also make a form of violence," the editorial commented.
The editorial complained that sanctions are being employed to pressure Myanmar politically.
Dealing with climate change across the world which brings about natural disaster as well as many other issues which the world is facing such as food crisis, energy security, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorist attacks and pandemic disease, the editorial stressed the need for global nations to make cooperative efforts to overcome these problems and challenges.
"Although many countries, large and small, are facing the financial and economic crisis, the small developing countries have been the hardest-hit," the editorial said, calling on the developed countries to increase their overseas development aid to the developing countries.
For over a decade, the United States and some European Union countries have imposed various sanctions including economic sanction on Myanmar out of political reasons.
Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein demanded at the recent U.N. General Assembly in New York an end to economic sanctions, saying that sanctions are being employed as a political tool against Myanmar and such acts must be stopped.
Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under 18-month house confinement, proposed in a letter dated Sept. 25 to Senior-GeneralThan Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to cooperate with the government in seeking ways of removing Western sanctions on Myanmar and also asking in her letter to meet and discuss with U.S. and European Union countries' diplomats as well as Australian's on the issue.
In response to Aung San Suu Kyi's letter, the government arranged a meeting between Liaison Minister U Aung Kyi and her on Saturday for further talks.
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Last updated: 16:26 - October 5, 2009
Nhân Dân - Vietnam discusses Cambodia, Myanmar situations
A Vietnamese representative to the UN talked about situations in Cambodia and Myanmar at the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council that closed on October 2.
In regard to the council’s technical assistance and capacity building for Cambodia, Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Dung hailed recent achievements in politics, economics, society and culture recorded by the Cambodian government and people as well as progress in implementing basic and free human rights in the country.
Ambassador Dung, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations Office, WTO and other international organisations in Geneva, mentioned outstanding issues and challenges the Cambodian government is facing and called on the international community and the Council to further provide technical assistance in order to help the country overcome its difficulties and challenges.
Regarding Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, the Vietnamese diplomat noted that adoption of a resolution on people is a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries.
Vietnam claimed that only periodic review mechanism is the most suitable one of the Council to discuss human rights situation in countries. Therefore, the international community’s continued co-operation and assistance for Myanmar are very important and will be effective once they base on co-operation with the government and people of Myanmar, Ambassador Dung said.
The 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council adopted 28 resolutions and three decisions and reports of a series of countries, including Vietnam, under the periodic review mechanism.
The next session will take place from March 1-29 next year. (VNA)
Nhân Dân - Vietnam discusses Cambodia, Myanmar situations
A Vietnamese representative to the UN talked about situations in Cambodia and Myanmar at the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council that closed on October 2.
In regard to the council’s technical assistance and capacity building for Cambodia, Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Dung hailed recent achievements in politics, economics, society and culture recorded by the Cambodian government and people as well as progress in implementing basic and free human rights in the country.
Ambassador Dung, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations Office, WTO and other international organisations in Geneva, mentioned outstanding issues and challenges the Cambodian government is facing and called on the international community and the Council to further provide technical assistance in order to help the country overcome its difficulties and challenges.
Regarding Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, the Vietnamese diplomat noted that adoption of a resolution on people is a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries.
Vietnam claimed that only periodic review mechanism is the most suitable one of the Council to discuss human rights situation in countries. Therefore, the international community’s continued co-operation and assistance for Myanmar are very important and will be effective once they base on co-operation with the government and people of Myanmar, Ambassador Dung said.
The 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council adopted 28 resolutions and three decisions and reports of a series of countries, including Vietnam, under the periodic review mechanism.
The next session will take place from March 1-29 next year. (VNA)
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Asahi Shimbun - EDITORIAL: Engaging Myanmar
2009/10/6
In an abrupt shift in policy toward Myanmar (Burma), the U.S. government has decided to embark upon direct dialogue with the military junta.
Ever since the military coup 21 years ago, the United States has maintained severe sanctions against the ruling junta in an effort to get the generals to embrace democracy.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, and many others are being held as political prisoners. The junta appears to be tightening its autocratic rule ahead of general elections scheduled for next year.
Why then has the United States chosen this juncture to try to engage Myanmar in dialogue? Presumably, Washington is concerned that if Myanmar is left to do as it pleases, the country will become a serious destabilizing factor in world affairs.
New suspicions arose earlier this year that Myanmar could be building nuclear facilities with the help of North Korea. In June, a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying weapons forbidden under U.N. sanctions was tracked by U.S. forces. The vessel's destination was believed to have been Myanmar.
If the junta decides to try its hand at developing nuclear weapons, U.S. policy toward Asia would be uprooted from its foundations. There are fears that drug cultivation would spread. Another concern is China's growing influence in the region.
The United States is determined to maintain sanctions while simultaneously opening up a window for dialogue. We hope the U.S. initiative will advance the democratization process. Nothing should be taken for granted, however.
In an address to the recent U.N. General Assembly, Gen. Thein Sein, who holds the title of prime minister in Myanmar, called for all sanctions to be lifted. This can be read as an announcement of his intentions to hold the elections under the current military leadership and to continue de facto military rule. To begin with, Myanmar's new Constitution that was adopted last year is designed to aid and abet the military. It stipulates that a quarter of the seats in the parliament should be allocated to military personnel.
Myanmar's general election must be held in a fair and democratic manner.
The government must allow the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, to freely participate. The international community will not accept a result in which power is transferred to a democratic government in name only, while real power remains in the hands of the junta.
If Myanmar truly wishes to return to the international fold, the junta should explain clearly, through dialogue with the United States, how it intends to move toward democratization.
The Japanese government's diplomatic stance on Myanmar has been to use the carrot and the stick approach. It has placed a basic freeze on all new aid programs while issuing a standing invitation to a Cabinet member from Myanmar to visit Japan for talks. But this approach has failed to ease the regime's oppression.
Restoring democracy to Myanmar will be in the interest of not just Japan but the entire Asian region. Such a development would block the possibility of military cooperation with North Korea.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met with his Myanmar counterpart last weekend and issued a strongly worded call for Suu Kyi's release and the holding of a free general election. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a member of a lawmakers' group that supports Myanmar's democratization, has spoken over the phone with Suu Kyi. Japan should seize the opportunity offered by the U.S. turnaround in policy toward Myanmar. It should work together with the United States, China and Southeast Asian countries to strengthen diplomatic pressure against the military regime and urge it to change.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 5(IHT/Asahi: October 6,2009)
2009/10/6
In an abrupt shift in policy toward Myanmar (Burma), the U.S. government has decided to embark upon direct dialogue with the military junta.
Ever since the military coup 21 years ago, the United States has maintained severe sanctions against the ruling junta in an effort to get the generals to embrace democracy.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, and many others are being held as political prisoners. The junta appears to be tightening its autocratic rule ahead of general elections scheduled for next year.
Why then has the United States chosen this juncture to try to engage Myanmar in dialogue? Presumably, Washington is concerned that if Myanmar is left to do as it pleases, the country will become a serious destabilizing factor in world affairs.
New suspicions arose earlier this year that Myanmar could be building nuclear facilities with the help of North Korea. In June, a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying weapons forbidden under U.N. sanctions was tracked by U.S. forces. The vessel's destination was believed to have been Myanmar.
If the junta decides to try its hand at developing nuclear weapons, U.S. policy toward Asia would be uprooted from its foundations. There are fears that drug cultivation would spread. Another concern is China's growing influence in the region.
The United States is determined to maintain sanctions while simultaneously opening up a window for dialogue. We hope the U.S. initiative will advance the democratization process. Nothing should be taken for granted, however.
In an address to the recent U.N. General Assembly, Gen. Thein Sein, who holds the title of prime minister in Myanmar, called for all sanctions to be lifted. This can be read as an announcement of his intentions to hold the elections under the current military leadership and to continue de facto military rule. To begin with, Myanmar's new Constitution that was adopted last year is designed to aid and abet the military. It stipulates that a quarter of the seats in the parliament should be allocated to military personnel.
Myanmar's general election must be held in a fair and democratic manner.
The government must allow the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, to freely participate. The international community will not accept a result in which power is transferred to a democratic government in name only, while real power remains in the hands of the junta.
If Myanmar truly wishes to return to the international fold, the junta should explain clearly, through dialogue with the United States, how it intends to move toward democratization.
The Japanese government's diplomatic stance on Myanmar has been to use the carrot and the stick approach. It has placed a basic freeze on all new aid programs while issuing a standing invitation to a Cabinet member from Myanmar to visit Japan for talks. But this approach has failed to ease the regime's oppression.
Restoring democracy to Myanmar will be in the interest of not just Japan but the entire Asian region. Such a development would block the possibility of military cooperation with North Korea.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met with his Myanmar counterpart last weekend and issued a strongly worded call for Suu Kyi's release and the holding of a free general election. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a member of a lawmakers' group that supports Myanmar's democratization, has spoken over the phone with Suu Kyi. Japan should seize the opportunity offered by the U.S. turnaround in policy toward Myanmar. It should work together with the United States, China and Southeast Asian countries to strengthen diplomatic pressure against the military regime and urge it to change.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 5(IHT/Asahi: October 6,2009)
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The Age - Sanctions on Burma have a role to play
ALISON VICARY AND SEAN TURNELL
October 6, 2009
In recent times, much debate has taken place in Washington, Canberra and elsewhere on the issue of economic sanctions on Burma. It is an issue that tends to polarise opinion, but lately something of a groundswell of opposition to sanctions has gained momentum. Much of this opposition is sincere, some of it is self-serving, but the sum of it is wrong.
The opposition to sanctions coalesces around a number of issues, one of which is the implicit idea that somehow sanctions are responsible for Burma's poverty.
Once the richest country in South-East Asia, Burma is now by far the poorest. But this disastrous turnaround has nothing to do with the sanctions imposed on Burma's military regime by the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and a number of other like-minded countries.
It does, however, have everything to do with the chronic economic mismanagement by the military regimes that have ruled Burma since 1962. For nearly five decades now, Burma's military apparatus has controlled and plundered the country's economy and natural resources, while it has simultaneously dismantled, blocked and undermined basic market institutions.
Most of Burma's leading corporations are owned by the military, and the country is ranked in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index as the second-most corrupt in the world. Burma's military regime has created an environment in which genuine transformative economic growth - of the sort that has transformed its neighbours and peers - is not possible.
Many of Burma's neighbours are not shining liberal democracies as we know, but they are mostly governed by rulers who at least recognise that their own advantage grows with that of their countries. These governments are not above behaving as predators, but they avoid killing the economy upon which they feed. Burma's Government, by contrast, is a simple-minded looter, destroying what it can neither create nor understand.
Burma attracts little in the way of foreign investment, and what does enter is strongly concentrated in the gas and oil sectors, and other extractive industries. Burma has recently emerged as a significant regional exporter of natural gas, but so far this windfall has done little good for the country.
Indeed, it has fuelled something of a ''resources curse'' of the sadly familiar pattern - financially entrenching Burma's regime (which keeps the gas revenues offshore for its own use) and generating an array of ''national prestige'' projects. These include Burma's new administrative capital (called Naypyidaw - Burmese for ''abode of kings''), the purchase of a nuclear reactor from Russia and, perhaps most worryingly of all, the recent purchases of arms and unknown capacities from North Korea.
The arguments against sanctions on Burma are routinely based on the idea that the encouragement of business will support an alternative centre of power beyond the regime, and the emergence thus of a ''business class'' as a force demanding change. But an alternative base of power via business clearly depends upon who controls this business - and in Burma this is none other than the state itself.
Significant export earners such as gas, petroleum, precious stones and metals, teak and seafood products are all controlled by the state. Simply, the military state's careful control over the investment of private capital in these sectors precludes their emergence as challengers to the political status quo.
The financial sanctions levelled against Burma by the US, EU, Canada, Australia (which limits access to our financial systems by Burma's military regime, and named individuals connected to it) are extraordinarily well-targeted.
The average person in Burma has no access to a bank account, much less a need or desire to engage the international financial system. This is not true for the senior members of the military or the rent-seeking elite connected to them. As such, the denial of access to Western financial systems to this group sends precisely the right signal, to precisely the right people.
However one might agree or disagree over their original imposition, the economic sanctions now in place constitute potent ''money in the bank'' that can be spent in response to genuine reform in Burma in the period ahead.
Lifting economic sanctions now would not only embolden Burma's present reform-shy regime, but also greatly deleverage the ability of the US, Australia and like-minded countries to influence future events.
Changing Burma's circumstances will primarily be a function of events internal to the country, and at the hands of domestic constituencies that recognise the incentives for change. In the meantime, the rest of the world can best promote these incentives, and best allow their realisation, by promising to reward the eventual emergence of the policies and institutions that underlie our own liberty and prosperity. The people of Burma deserve nothing less.
Dr Alison Vicary and Dr Sean Turnell are co-editors of the Macquarie University journal Burma Economic Watch.
ALISON VICARY AND SEAN TURNELL
October 6, 2009
In recent times, much debate has taken place in Washington, Canberra and elsewhere on the issue of economic sanctions on Burma. It is an issue that tends to polarise opinion, but lately something of a groundswell of opposition to sanctions has gained momentum. Much of this opposition is sincere, some of it is self-serving, but the sum of it is wrong.
The opposition to sanctions coalesces around a number of issues, one of which is the implicit idea that somehow sanctions are responsible for Burma's poverty.
Once the richest country in South-East Asia, Burma is now by far the poorest. But this disastrous turnaround has nothing to do with the sanctions imposed on Burma's military regime by the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and a number of other like-minded countries.
It does, however, have everything to do with the chronic economic mismanagement by the military regimes that have ruled Burma since 1962. For nearly five decades now, Burma's military apparatus has controlled and plundered the country's economy and natural resources, while it has simultaneously dismantled, blocked and undermined basic market institutions.
Most of Burma's leading corporations are owned by the military, and the country is ranked in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index as the second-most corrupt in the world. Burma's military regime has created an environment in which genuine transformative economic growth - of the sort that has transformed its neighbours and peers - is not possible.
Many of Burma's neighbours are not shining liberal democracies as we know, but they are mostly governed by rulers who at least recognise that their own advantage grows with that of their countries. These governments are not above behaving as predators, but they avoid killing the economy upon which they feed. Burma's Government, by contrast, is a simple-minded looter, destroying what it can neither create nor understand.
Burma attracts little in the way of foreign investment, and what does enter is strongly concentrated in the gas and oil sectors, and other extractive industries. Burma has recently emerged as a significant regional exporter of natural gas, but so far this windfall has done little good for the country.
Indeed, it has fuelled something of a ''resources curse'' of the sadly familiar pattern - financially entrenching Burma's regime (which keeps the gas revenues offshore for its own use) and generating an array of ''national prestige'' projects. These include Burma's new administrative capital (called Naypyidaw - Burmese for ''abode of kings''), the purchase of a nuclear reactor from Russia and, perhaps most worryingly of all, the recent purchases of arms and unknown capacities from North Korea.
The arguments against sanctions on Burma are routinely based on the idea that the encouragement of business will support an alternative centre of power beyond the regime, and the emergence thus of a ''business class'' as a force demanding change. But an alternative base of power via business clearly depends upon who controls this business - and in Burma this is none other than the state itself.
Significant export earners such as gas, petroleum, precious stones and metals, teak and seafood products are all controlled by the state. Simply, the military state's careful control over the investment of private capital in these sectors precludes their emergence as challengers to the political status quo.
The financial sanctions levelled against Burma by the US, EU, Canada, Australia (which limits access to our financial systems by Burma's military regime, and named individuals connected to it) are extraordinarily well-targeted.
The average person in Burma has no access to a bank account, much less a need or desire to engage the international financial system. This is not true for the senior members of the military or the rent-seeking elite connected to them. As such, the denial of access to Western financial systems to this group sends precisely the right signal, to precisely the right people.
However one might agree or disagree over their original imposition, the economic sanctions now in place constitute potent ''money in the bank'' that can be spent in response to genuine reform in Burma in the period ahead.
Lifting economic sanctions now would not only embolden Burma's present reform-shy regime, but also greatly deleverage the ability of the US, Australia and like-minded countries to influence future events.
Changing Burma's circumstances will primarily be a function of events internal to the country, and at the hands of domestic constituencies that recognise the incentives for change. In the meantime, the rest of the world can best promote these incentives, and best allow their realisation, by promising to reward the eventual emergence of the policies and institutions that underlie our own liberty and prosperity. The people of Burma deserve nothing less.
Dr Alison Vicary and Dr Sean Turnell are co-editors of the Macquarie University journal Burma Economic Watch.
***********************************************************
Oct 7, 2009
Asia Times Online - China's satellite diplomacy shifts a gear
By Peter J Brown
In late September, China announced that it would build and launch a new communications satellite for Bolivia in the next three years, and shortly thereafter, China announced that it would do the same for Laos, although no timetable was disclosed. Talk of China's satellite project with Laos has been circulating for over a year. Other countries, including Ecuador, Myanmar and Vietnam as well as a few in Africa, might soon be added to the list.
"The deals involving Laos and Bolivia are not the first Chinese deals with developing countries. China had deals with Nigeria and Venezuela respectively in 2007 and 2008. China has built a better capability to provide satellites and launching services after its efforts in developing space technology for half a century," said Professor Ling Yan, an international law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. "As a developing country, China is willing to cooperate with other developing countries and to mutually benefit from the cooperation."
President Evo Morales of Bolivia had been at the headquarters of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva just two weeks prior to China's announcement, to discuss satellite-related matters with ITU secretary-general Dr Hamadoun Toure. So, this was a signal that Bolivia might move quickly to initiate a satellite project, although few expected any formal announcement until next year. The announcement with Bolivia came soon after Morales met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the United Nations in New York.
Was the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) a factor? This cannot be ruled out. After all, Russia's decision earlier this month to delay the planned launch of China's first probe to Mars from late 2009 to 2012 was awkward and unwelcome. Following all of China's well-publicized, space-related activity in 2008, including China's first manned space walk, China's satellite launches and other activities in space had slowed considerably in 2009. As a result, the timing here is ideal and China no doubt welcomes all of this satellite-related publicity.
David Vaccaro, senior analyst at Maryland-based Futron Corp, said that China is actively pursuing satellite deals in Southeast Asia and elsewhere for good reason. "It is certainly consistent with the goals of China's space program," said Vaccaro. "China seeks to use space as a tool of diplomacy in neighboring Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Beyond this, China has long-stated commercial aspirations in space."
However, China's inconsistent track record to date with communications satellites cannot be ignored. China is rapidly building a replacement for Nigeria's Chinese-built NIGCOMSAT-1 after its failure in late 2008, for example. Launched in May 2007, this was Nigeria's first communications satellite. (See Nigeria's Chinese-built satellite goes dark, Asia Times Online, Nov 18, 2008)
China's preference thus far has been to engage in satellite deals announced only after the completion of closed-door negotiations with foreign governments. China has avoided the highly competitive commercial marketplace. However, China's reluctance to participate in an open bidding process may be changing.
For this reason, all eyes are on Vietnam which has announced that it is looking to acquire its second communications satellite, known as Vinasat-2. China's primary satellite manufacturer, the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), currently features news articles about Vinasat-2 - the Vietnamese have not announced who will provide Vietnam's second communications satellite - on its website, according to Vaccaro.
If China is interested in pursuing this deal, it will certainly face what is likely to be a concerted bid by US satellite builder and defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which built Vinasat-1, Vietnam's first communications satellite. There will also be competitive bids by other US and European satellite manufacturers. As a result, China will have to offer a compelling deal to win this and any other future satellite contracts, according to Vaccaro.
On the other hand, China's generosity is no secret in satellite circles. When China announced a few weeks ago that it would build Pakistan's new communications satellite at a projected cost of US$212 million, a $200 million construction loan from China was part of the transaction. This is the same sum that the Export-Import Bank of China provided to Nigeria in 2006 for NIGCOMSAT-1's construction.
Both the Nigerian satellite and the newer Chinese-built Venezuelan satellite known as Venesat-1, which was launched in late 2008, cost well over $200 million. That is the price tag of the satellite alone, and does not include the amount spent on launch vehicles, launches and ground control facilities which can easily add about $100 million or more to the total cost.
In effect, China may well be offering satellites to developing countries at bargain basement prices, however, accurately calculating the exact cost of these satellite projects is quite difficult because rarely if ever is anything done out in the open. China also tends to cover all the expenses - from financing, and the entire space hardware package to launch and operational support facilities and services and even advanced training of local personnel.
Other satellite vendors are now offering communications satellites which might be viewed as more affordable as well by governments which are strapped for cash, and perhaps a bit reluctant to embrace China's economic and foreign policy agenda. For example, Kazakhstan signed a contract with Moscow-based Khrunichev Space Center for Kazsat-2, a satellite which is scheduled to replace Russian-built Kazsat-1 that was lost in mid-2008. It has an estimated price tag of $115 million contract.
Another satellite manufacturer which has also been making steady progress selling a line of smaller and more modestly priced communications satellites is Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp which has customers in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
"China in general is using its financial strength as a diplomatic tool especially for smaller, less developed countries. Often, it is locking up raw materials or winning large contracts for Chinese industry," said Patrick French, senior analyst and head of the Singapore Office at research and consulting firm NSR, LLC. "This is likely related to efforts here. Plus, few large international satellite operators will risk buying a Chinese satellite and being tied to a launch in China in the process until things thaw out between China and the US. It just adds too much risk."
Another good reason for China to pursue these deals in the developing world is that it simply offers China an opportunity to fine-tune its satellite products and engage in high tech team-working, while gaining practical experience and improving overall technical competence.
"As it did with respect to launch vehicles, China hopes to get a share of the growing market for telecommunication satellites, with governments of developing countries as its main clients. This will allow China to improve its technologies, while reinforcing ties with these countries," said Dr Laurence Nardon, head of the Space Policy Program at the Paris-based French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) and co-author of a recent paper entitled, "China and the Telecommunication Satellites of the Developing Countries."
China Great Wall Industries Corporation (CGWIC) serves as China's monopoly provider of communications satellites. CGWIC oversees all export activities as well as the actual satellite launches in China. CGWIC provides satellites, launch vehicles, and, ground control systems and facilities. Its ability to serve as a one-stop shop is somewhat unique.
CGWIC is just getting started in the satellite export business, and it has a long way to go before it reaches a point where it is on the same level as the world's biggest satellite manufacturers, including Europe's Astrium and Thales Alenia Space which is working with Khrunichev on Kazsat-2, and US satellite builders Lockheed Martin, Space Systems/Loral, and Boeing. Russia's Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev (ISS Reshetnev) and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corp are among the satellite manufacturers whose output to date has probably been exceeded by the Chinese already.
Other top organizations involved in these Chinese satellite projects include the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) which supplies the Long March launch vehicles, and the Dongfang Hong ("The East is Red") Satellite Company Ltd (DFH), part of CAST in Beijing which supplies all types of satellites including the Nigerian and Venezuelan DFH-4 communications satellites.
While the sum total of all the Chinese-built communications satellites represents just a small fraction of global satellite bandwidth or communications capacity, the need for bandwidth is what often motivates customers in this government-owned or government-controlled satellite market. Along with bandwidth, reliability, and the fact that satellites can reach across the entire country in question, status, prestige and national pride play an important role as well.
As a rule, these countries lack basic telecommunications infrastructure especially out in the countryside where no fiber-optic cables and wireless networks exist. As a result, a substantial percentage of their rural populations lack vital communications services. Besides extending a nation's telecommunications grid - including wireless services to previously unserved areas - leasing out any available capacity left over after national objectives are met is always an option for these countries, too. This can generate badly needed revenue.
"Satellite providers have seen year-over-year growth rates of between 15% and 40%, while wired and wireless telecom providers have seen -5% to 15% growth," said Daniel Longfield, Texas-based satellite and wireless industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Most communications satellites in the world are operating at near peak capacity due to strong demand. Any company or government that can get a satellite launched and operational will be able to find customers for most of the satellite bandwidth capacity very quickly."
Strong demand for satellite communications also means that countries with new satellites are usually but not always in a "price-making position not a price-taking situation," according to Longfield, who added that, "they will be able to dictate prices and those prices will be higher than wired or wireless solutions. The people purchasing communications services off this satellite will not have wireless or wireline alternatives, and will be happy to pay higher than market prices."
Beyond the realm of economic development, political realities play an important role here, and China realizes that doors are not going to open automatically in each and every country - even in Southeast Asia. Despite China's growing investments in Vietnam, for example, Peter Evans, senior analyst for Asia at Australia-based Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, describes China's chances of actually succeeding in the sale of a satellite to Vietnam as very slim to none.
"This is an exercise in Vietnam being seen to stand on its own two feet and, even though it will need to 'buy' a satellite from someone, in matters like this, the government would probably want to maintain independence from its big neighbor," said Evans, adding that Vietnam is very bullish on satellite technology. "If the official figures can be believed, the capacity of Vinasat-1 is 70% booked already and the government said it will reach 100% some time in 2010, eventually operating at full capacity within three years."
On the other hand, Longfield disagrees and views China as a likely candidate here because China and Vietnam are, "most closely aligned in terms of politics, economics, and defense when compared to other competitors like Japan, Europe, or the US".
In Southeast Asia, now that both Laos and Vietnam have announced new satellite ventures, the dynamics of the regional market may be adversely affected in the short term, although these new satellites are unlikely to substantially undercut the prices charged by other regional competitors, such as Thailand's Thaicom and Malaysia's Measat. Overall the Southeast Asian satellite market has experienced some uncertainty, but this seems more linked to the global financial crisis and the big players in the region recalibrating their business strategies, according to Evans.
Singapore-based Protostar Ltd's decision in July to declare bankruptcy, and the fact that the ambitious IPStar broadband satellite project in Thailand has not lived up to expectations, is a reminder that Asian satellite projects do not always prove to be instant winners. At the same time, there is disagreement about whether too much satellite capacity looms over Southeast Asia.
"Overcapacity does not appear to be an issue at this stage," Evans said.
"There is a currently a perception that there are simply too many regional providers," said Vaccaro. "At the same time, it is important to keep perspective. In the long term, the Asia-Pacific market may have the greatest potential for growth. Considering two separate metrics - the net population of the region, and its technology adoption rates for advanced telephony applications - a case can be made that excess supply will shrink within 10 years. Indeed, this is what many investors and satellite companies are counting on."
The laws of supply and demand only carry so much weight in these circumstances anyway, according to French.
"The simple fact is that pure market rules are not driving these projects. So, questions about supply/demand are not very relevant," said French, who added that while the loss of clients from within a particular country (which has just launched its own satellite for the first time) is certainly not pleasant for a regional satellite operator in particular which may have done business inside the country in question for years, "this will not sink most of them since they have their own domestic clients locked up anyway".
As long as China keeps reaching for its wallet in order to sweeten its satellite deals with developing nations via loan packages that closely resemble handouts, the sky is likely to become quite crowded with Chinese satellites over the coming years.
Peter J Brown is a satellite journalist from the US state of Maine.
Asia Times Online - China's satellite diplomacy shifts a gear
By Peter J Brown
In late September, China announced that it would build and launch a new communications satellite for Bolivia in the next three years, and shortly thereafter, China announced that it would do the same for Laos, although no timetable was disclosed. Talk of China's satellite project with Laos has been circulating for over a year. Other countries, including Ecuador, Myanmar and Vietnam as well as a few in Africa, might soon be added to the list.
"The deals involving Laos and Bolivia are not the first Chinese deals with developing countries. China had deals with Nigeria and Venezuela respectively in 2007 and 2008. China has built a better capability to provide satellites and launching services after its efforts in developing space technology for half a century," said Professor Ling Yan, an international law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. "As a developing country, China is willing to cooperate with other developing countries and to mutually benefit from the cooperation."
President Evo Morales of Bolivia had been at the headquarters of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva just two weeks prior to China's announcement, to discuss satellite-related matters with ITU secretary-general Dr Hamadoun Toure. So, this was a signal that Bolivia might move quickly to initiate a satellite project, although few expected any formal announcement until next year. The announcement with Bolivia came soon after Morales met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the United Nations in New York.
Was the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) a factor? This cannot be ruled out. After all, Russia's decision earlier this month to delay the planned launch of China's first probe to Mars from late 2009 to 2012 was awkward and unwelcome. Following all of China's well-publicized, space-related activity in 2008, including China's first manned space walk, China's satellite launches and other activities in space had slowed considerably in 2009. As a result, the timing here is ideal and China no doubt welcomes all of this satellite-related publicity.
David Vaccaro, senior analyst at Maryland-based Futron Corp, said that China is actively pursuing satellite deals in Southeast Asia and elsewhere for good reason. "It is certainly consistent with the goals of China's space program," said Vaccaro. "China seeks to use space as a tool of diplomacy in neighboring Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Beyond this, China has long-stated commercial aspirations in space."
However, China's inconsistent track record to date with communications satellites cannot be ignored. China is rapidly building a replacement for Nigeria's Chinese-built NIGCOMSAT-1 after its failure in late 2008, for example. Launched in May 2007, this was Nigeria's first communications satellite. (See Nigeria's Chinese-built satellite goes dark, Asia Times Online, Nov 18, 2008)
China's preference thus far has been to engage in satellite deals announced only after the completion of closed-door negotiations with foreign governments. China has avoided the highly competitive commercial marketplace. However, China's reluctance to participate in an open bidding process may be changing.
For this reason, all eyes are on Vietnam which has announced that it is looking to acquire its second communications satellite, known as Vinasat-2. China's primary satellite manufacturer, the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), currently features news articles about Vinasat-2 - the Vietnamese have not announced who will provide Vietnam's second communications satellite - on its website, according to Vaccaro.
If China is interested in pursuing this deal, it will certainly face what is likely to be a concerted bid by US satellite builder and defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which built Vinasat-1, Vietnam's first communications satellite. There will also be competitive bids by other US and European satellite manufacturers. As a result, China will have to offer a compelling deal to win this and any other future satellite contracts, according to Vaccaro.
On the other hand, China's generosity is no secret in satellite circles. When China announced a few weeks ago that it would build Pakistan's new communications satellite at a projected cost of US$212 million, a $200 million construction loan from China was part of the transaction. This is the same sum that the Export-Import Bank of China provided to Nigeria in 2006 for NIGCOMSAT-1's construction.
Both the Nigerian satellite and the newer Chinese-built Venezuelan satellite known as Venesat-1, which was launched in late 2008, cost well over $200 million. That is the price tag of the satellite alone, and does not include the amount spent on launch vehicles, launches and ground control facilities which can easily add about $100 million or more to the total cost.
In effect, China may well be offering satellites to developing countries at bargain basement prices, however, accurately calculating the exact cost of these satellite projects is quite difficult because rarely if ever is anything done out in the open. China also tends to cover all the expenses - from financing, and the entire space hardware package to launch and operational support facilities and services and even advanced training of local personnel.
Other satellite vendors are now offering communications satellites which might be viewed as more affordable as well by governments which are strapped for cash, and perhaps a bit reluctant to embrace China's economic and foreign policy agenda. For example, Kazakhstan signed a contract with Moscow-based Khrunichev Space Center for Kazsat-2, a satellite which is scheduled to replace Russian-built Kazsat-1 that was lost in mid-2008. It has an estimated price tag of $115 million contract.
Another satellite manufacturer which has also been making steady progress selling a line of smaller and more modestly priced communications satellites is Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp which has customers in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
"China in general is using its financial strength as a diplomatic tool especially for smaller, less developed countries. Often, it is locking up raw materials or winning large contracts for Chinese industry," said Patrick French, senior analyst and head of the Singapore Office at research and consulting firm NSR, LLC. "This is likely related to efforts here. Plus, few large international satellite operators will risk buying a Chinese satellite and being tied to a launch in China in the process until things thaw out between China and the US. It just adds too much risk."
Another good reason for China to pursue these deals in the developing world is that it simply offers China an opportunity to fine-tune its satellite products and engage in high tech team-working, while gaining practical experience and improving overall technical competence.
"As it did with respect to launch vehicles, China hopes to get a share of the growing market for telecommunication satellites, with governments of developing countries as its main clients. This will allow China to improve its technologies, while reinforcing ties with these countries," said Dr Laurence Nardon, head of the Space Policy Program at the Paris-based French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) and co-author of a recent paper entitled, "China and the Telecommunication Satellites of the Developing Countries."
China Great Wall Industries Corporation (CGWIC) serves as China's monopoly provider of communications satellites. CGWIC oversees all export activities as well as the actual satellite launches in China. CGWIC provides satellites, launch vehicles, and, ground control systems and facilities. Its ability to serve as a one-stop shop is somewhat unique.
CGWIC is just getting started in the satellite export business, and it has a long way to go before it reaches a point where it is on the same level as the world's biggest satellite manufacturers, including Europe's Astrium and Thales Alenia Space which is working with Khrunichev on Kazsat-2, and US satellite builders Lockheed Martin, Space Systems/Loral, and Boeing. Russia's Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev (ISS Reshetnev) and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corp are among the satellite manufacturers whose output to date has probably been exceeded by the Chinese already.
Other top organizations involved in these Chinese satellite projects include the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) which supplies the Long March launch vehicles, and the Dongfang Hong ("The East is Red") Satellite Company Ltd (DFH), part of CAST in Beijing which supplies all types of satellites including the Nigerian and Venezuelan DFH-4 communications satellites.
While the sum total of all the Chinese-built communications satellites represents just a small fraction of global satellite bandwidth or communications capacity, the need for bandwidth is what often motivates customers in this government-owned or government-controlled satellite market. Along with bandwidth, reliability, and the fact that satellites can reach across the entire country in question, status, prestige and national pride play an important role as well.
As a rule, these countries lack basic telecommunications infrastructure especially out in the countryside where no fiber-optic cables and wireless networks exist. As a result, a substantial percentage of their rural populations lack vital communications services. Besides extending a nation's telecommunications grid - including wireless services to previously unserved areas - leasing out any available capacity left over after national objectives are met is always an option for these countries, too. This can generate badly needed revenue.
"Satellite providers have seen year-over-year growth rates of between 15% and 40%, while wired and wireless telecom providers have seen -5% to 15% growth," said Daniel Longfield, Texas-based satellite and wireless industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Most communications satellites in the world are operating at near peak capacity due to strong demand. Any company or government that can get a satellite launched and operational will be able to find customers for most of the satellite bandwidth capacity very quickly."
Strong demand for satellite communications also means that countries with new satellites are usually but not always in a "price-making position not a price-taking situation," according to Longfield, who added that, "they will be able to dictate prices and those prices will be higher than wired or wireless solutions. The people purchasing communications services off this satellite will not have wireless or wireline alternatives, and will be happy to pay higher than market prices."
Beyond the realm of economic development, political realities play an important role here, and China realizes that doors are not going to open automatically in each and every country - even in Southeast Asia. Despite China's growing investments in Vietnam, for example, Peter Evans, senior analyst for Asia at Australia-based Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd, describes China's chances of actually succeeding in the sale of a satellite to Vietnam as very slim to none.
"This is an exercise in Vietnam being seen to stand on its own two feet and, even though it will need to 'buy' a satellite from someone, in matters like this, the government would probably want to maintain independence from its big neighbor," said Evans, adding that Vietnam is very bullish on satellite technology. "If the official figures can be believed, the capacity of Vinasat-1 is 70% booked already and the government said it will reach 100% some time in 2010, eventually operating at full capacity within three years."
On the other hand, Longfield disagrees and views China as a likely candidate here because China and Vietnam are, "most closely aligned in terms of politics, economics, and defense when compared to other competitors like Japan, Europe, or the US".
In Southeast Asia, now that both Laos and Vietnam have announced new satellite ventures, the dynamics of the regional market may be adversely affected in the short term, although these new satellites are unlikely to substantially undercut the prices charged by other regional competitors, such as Thailand's Thaicom and Malaysia's Measat. Overall the Southeast Asian satellite market has experienced some uncertainty, but this seems more linked to the global financial crisis and the big players in the region recalibrating their business strategies, according to Evans.
Singapore-based Protostar Ltd's decision in July to declare bankruptcy, and the fact that the ambitious IPStar broadband satellite project in Thailand has not lived up to expectations, is a reminder that Asian satellite projects do not always prove to be instant winners. At the same time, there is disagreement about whether too much satellite capacity looms over Southeast Asia.
"Overcapacity does not appear to be an issue at this stage," Evans said.
"There is a currently a perception that there are simply too many regional providers," said Vaccaro. "At the same time, it is important to keep perspective. In the long term, the Asia-Pacific market may have the greatest potential for growth. Considering two separate metrics - the net population of the region, and its technology adoption rates for advanced telephony applications - a case can be made that excess supply will shrink within 10 years. Indeed, this is what many investors and satellite companies are counting on."
The laws of supply and demand only carry so much weight in these circumstances anyway, according to French.
"The simple fact is that pure market rules are not driving these projects. So, questions about supply/demand are not very relevant," said French, who added that while the loss of clients from within a particular country (which has just launched its own satellite for the first time) is certainly not pleasant for a regional satellite operator in particular which may have done business inside the country in question for years, "this will not sink most of them since they have their own domestic clients locked up anyway".
As long as China keeps reaching for its wallet in order to sweeten its satellite deals with developing nations via loan packages that closely resemble handouts, the sky is likely to become quite crowded with Chinese satellites over the coming years.
Peter J Brown is a satellite journalist from the US state of Maine.
***********************************************************
October 05, 2009 20:11 PM
Asean Partners Urged To Speed Up Singapore-Kunming Railway Link Project
HANOI, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia urged Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam to speed up construction of the Singapore-Kunming Railway Link (SKRL) in several missing areas.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri hoped the close cooperation would culminate in the completion of the project in 2015 in line with the establishment of the Asean community in the same year.
Speaking after chairing a special working group on the railway project here Monday, Abdul Rahim said relevant infrastucture was vital for the project in order to help forge economic cooperation among Asean members countries.
He added that a vast market of 1.75 billion, comprising China's population of 1.2 billion and the Asean market of 550 million people, was waiting to be tapped with the development of the Mekong Delta.
The one-day meeting, which was attended by the railway authorities of Asean partners and China, discussed funding for the project by less developed countries.
The meeting, also attended by representatives from the Bangkok-based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and, the Jakarta-based Asean secretariat, hoped the US$10 billion Asean China Economic Cooperation Fund could be tapped to part finance the construction of the missing link.
Asean Partners Urged To Speed Up Singapore-Kunming Railway Link Project
HANOI, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia urged Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam to speed up construction of the Singapore-Kunming Railway Link (SKRL) in several missing areas.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri hoped the close cooperation would culminate in the completion of the project in 2015 in line with the establishment of the Asean community in the same year.
Speaking after chairing a special working group on the railway project here Monday, Abdul Rahim said relevant infrastucture was vital for the project in order to help forge economic cooperation among Asean members countries.
He added that a vast market of 1.75 billion, comprising China's population of 1.2 billion and the Asean market of 550 million people, was waiting to be tapped with the development of the Mekong Delta.
The one-day meeting, which was attended by the railway authorities of Asean partners and China, discussed funding for the project by less developed countries.
The meeting, also attended by representatives from the Bangkok-based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and, the Jakarta-based Asean secretariat, hoped the US$10 billion Asean China Economic Cooperation Fund could be tapped to part finance the construction of the missing link.
***********************************************************
Bangkok Post - Opinion: US opens a doorway on engaging with Burma
Writer: ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Published: 5/10/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The Obama administration's dual-track policy of sanction and engagement with the Burmese junta might not be welcomed among dissidents and activists but it seems fit for this critical moment. It is also in line with Asean's stance, thus giving the bloc some breathing room over a sticky issue.
"Asean has wanted to engage Burma so it should be a win-win development in US-Asean relations as far as Burma is concerned," says Asda Jayanama, a former diplomat and staunch critic of the Burmese junta.
"It's true Asean may have to listen to the US voice and work in coordination with Washington [on this issue] but that has already been the case."
The US policy shift would be a good bet for Burma.
The regime has one more key player to engage with in the international arena apart from already friendly China.
Mr Asda notes, however, that the stick does not go away.
"The US will just have more room to manoeuvre. For Thailand, the Democrat-led administration already has the correct relationship.
"There is no conflict of interest in the constructive engagement approach with this neighbour," he says.
Other people do not view the policy shift in such a complimentary light. Some view it as a slap to Asean's face as it reflects the grouping's failure to improve the situation in Burma despite its decade-long engagement policy.
David Steinberg, a professor at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, said in his testimony to the US senate sub-committee on Asia and Pacific Affairs on Burma last Wednesday that both the past sanctions by the US and constructive engagement by Asean have failed.
The two parties seemed to have different goals as they worked - a regime change for the US and a regime modification for Asean, he noted.
"This strategic divergence has perhaps both hindered achieving the changes in that country we seek and made more difficult an effective relationship with Asean," he said.
The US policy shift has helped open an exit door for Thailand. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya was struggling with the stalemate over a statement on Burma in light of Aung San Suu Kyi's trial. The division among the 10 Asean members on this issue became pronounced as the vote stands at five against five on whether such a statement should be released.
The US announcement served as a good excuse for Mr Kasit to drop the idea of a statement altogether.
Win Min, an analyst based in Chiang Mai, notes the announcement of the new policy by the US is an acknowledgement in itself that the policies towards Burma in the past have failed.
Another Burmese observer adds: "We have yet to see how the new US approach will reshape Asean's gesture and how the next chair - Vietnam - will respond to that new path of international engagement with Burma."
China should also welcome this policy shift of the Obama administration even though it might lessen Beijing's bargaining power as far as Burma is concerned. However, in the long term a prosperous Burma would mean a bigger market for China as well, he says.
After all, China is already one of the biggest investors in Burma, especially on military and infrastructure development. It has enough business people inside the country to influence, if not control, any future Burmese government, Mr Asda, the former politician-cum-activist, says.
He says if the US wants to leave a legacy on Burma, it must invest in education and work out how to invite progressive (if there are any) Burmese army officers to follow, if not adopt, the western development paradigm instead of the Chinese or Korean models.
While Asean is relieved to see the new US stance, the European Union seems to be struggling with how to redesign its Burma approach. The EU president Sweden and the Commission held a meeting in Stockholm early this month but reached no conclusion as the United Kingdom and France have differing views on engagement. Sanctions thus remained the order of the day for the EU.
The EU mission in Bangkok commissioned an independent analysis on the sanctions' effects and possible recommendations for alternative policy measures, but the proposal could not be agreed upon here. It became dead in the water at the Stockholm meeting.
As the EU is the largest donor to Burma, it's crucial that the bloc come up with a clear signal and coordinate its policy with the UN and US to help improve the situation in Burma.
Time is ticking and the election looks set to be held next year. The future of Burma will then be charted, whether anybody likes it or not.
Writer: ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Published: 5/10/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The Obama administration's dual-track policy of sanction and engagement with the Burmese junta might not be welcomed among dissidents and activists but it seems fit for this critical moment. It is also in line with Asean's stance, thus giving the bloc some breathing room over a sticky issue.
"Asean has wanted to engage Burma so it should be a win-win development in US-Asean relations as far as Burma is concerned," says Asda Jayanama, a former diplomat and staunch critic of the Burmese junta.
"It's true Asean may have to listen to the US voice and work in coordination with Washington [on this issue] but that has already been the case."
The US policy shift would be a good bet for Burma.
The regime has one more key player to engage with in the international arena apart from already friendly China.
Mr Asda notes, however, that the stick does not go away.
"The US will just have more room to manoeuvre. For Thailand, the Democrat-led administration already has the correct relationship.
"There is no conflict of interest in the constructive engagement approach with this neighbour," he says.
Other people do not view the policy shift in such a complimentary light. Some view it as a slap to Asean's face as it reflects the grouping's failure to improve the situation in Burma despite its decade-long engagement policy.
David Steinberg, a professor at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, said in his testimony to the US senate sub-committee on Asia and Pacific Affairs on Burma last Wednesday that both the past sanctions by the US and constructive engagement by Asean have failed.
The two parties seemed to have different goals as they worked - a regime change for the US and a regime modification for Asean, he noted.
"This strategic divergence has perhaps both hindered achieving the changes in that country we seek and made more difficult an effective relationship with Asean," he said.
The US policy shift has helped open an exit door for Thailand. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya was struggling with the stalemate over a statement on Burma in light of Aung San Suu Kyi's trial. The division among the 10 Asean members on this issue became pronounced as the vote stands at five against five on whether such a statement should be released.
The US announcement served as a good excuse for Mr Kasit to drop the idea of a statement altogether.
Win Min, an analyst based in Chiang Mai, notes the announcement of the new policy by the US is an acknowledgement in itself that the policies towards Burma in the past have failed.
Another Burmese observer adds: "We have yet to see how the new US approach will reshape Asean's gesture and how the next chair - Vietnam - will respond to that new path of international engagement with Burma."
China should also welcome this policy shift of the Obama administration even though it might lessen Beijing's bargaining power as far as Burma is concerned. However, in the long term a prosperous Burma would mean a bigger market for China as well, he says.
After all, China is already one of the biggest investors in Burma, especially on military and infrastructure development. It has enough business people inside the country to influence, if not control, any future Burmese government, Mr Asda, the former politician-cum-activist, says.
He says if the US wants to leave a legacy on Burma, it must invest in education and work out how to invite progressive (if there are any) Burmese army officers to follow, if not adopt, the western development paradigm instead of the Chinese or Korean models.
While Asean is relieved to see the new US stance, the European Union seems to be struggling with how to redesign its Burma approach. The EU president Sweden and the Commission held a meeting in Stockholm early this month but reached no conclusion as the United Kingdom and France have differing views on engagement. Sanctions thus remained the order of the day for the EU.
The EU mission in Bangkok commissioned an independent analysis on the sanctions' effects and possible recommendations for alternative policy measures, but the proposal could not be agreed upon here. It became dead in the water at the Stockholm meeting.
As the EU is the largest donor to Burma, it's crucial that the bloc come up with a clear signal and coordinate its policy with the UN and US to help improve the situation in Burma.
Time is ticking and the election looks set to be held next year. The future of Burma will then be charted, whether anybody likes it or not.
***********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - ENC Calls on US to Back 2010 Election
By SAW YAN NAING, Tuesday, October 6, 2009
While many of Burma’s opposition and ethnic leaders, both inside and outside the country, may disagree whether to participate in next year’s general election, the exiled Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) last week sent a letter to US Senator Jim Webb urging the US not to condemn the 2010 election before it is held, but to continue calling for an inclusive, free and fair election process.
Founded in 2001, the ENC is an umbrella organization comprised of ethnic political leaders in exile, including Karen, Karenni, Kachin, Shan, Chin, Arakanese and Mon members.
Sen Jim Webb has been widely seen as an active influence on US policy on Burma since he met with junta strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe during a visit to Burma in August. He also met with Burmese ministers in Washington.
The ENC letter read: “We believe that the United States can best help by: not condemning the 2010 elections before they are held, but instead calling for a more inclusive election process that will be free and fair.”
The letter also stated that the ethnic nationalities cannot accept in principal the military’s 2008 constitution, but, at the same time, encouraged the eligible ethnic groups to run in the election.
The ENC said in its letter that its short-term policy is to support eligible ethnic groups in running for office in the 2010 election with several aims, including ensuring that ethnic minorities have a voice in Burma’s national politics.
The exiled ethnic council said that the election will not lead to democracy, but would provide for a centralized top-down system of government.
“However, the citizens of Burma have no choice. They will at the very least be forced to cast their votes. If there are no opposition parties, the military’s candidates will win by default. The military (and the majority ethnic ‘Burman’) candidates will then become the ‘elected representatives’ of the seven ethnic states,” the ENC wrote.
Several ethnic groups have said they disagree with the content of the open letter to Webb, including the exiled National Democratic Front (NDF), and the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) and the Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP) inside Burma.
The NDF released a statement on Monday saying they rejected the regime’s 2010 election because it will implement the 2008 Constitution, which was adopted by force and fraudulent means.
A prominent Arakanese politician in Rangoon, Aye Thar Aung, who is secretary of both the Arakan League for Democracy and the CRPP, said that the junta’s election will not grant rights to the ethnic minority peoples of Burma.
“All the power is in the hands of the government’s army. Therefore, there are no benefits to us taking part in the election. Ethnic people will achieve no rights,” said Aye Thar Aung.
The CRPP has 13 members. It was formed by the National League for Democracy and a number of smaller, ethnic-based political parties on September 16, 1998, in response to the Burmese military government’s failure to recognize the results of the 1990 election.
Meanwhile, the Karen National Union (KNU) released a statement on Monday saying that the ENC letter to Jim Webb— appearing to state that the SPDC’s election due in 2010 could present some kind of opportunity for change—has caused some confusion.
The 2010 election does not represent any kind of progress toward democratization in Burma, but the 2008 Constitution represents a serious threat to ethnic diversity in Burma, according to the KNU statement.
KNU Vice-Chairman David Takapaw said he disagreed with the ENC and said that ENC policy is not in line with the KNU’s policy.
Instead of talking about an election, the most important factor for change in Burma is dialogue and the release of all political prisoners, Takapaw said.
By SAW YAN NAING, Tuesday, October 6, 2009
While many of Burma’s opposition and ethnic leaders, both inside and outside the country, may disagree whether to participate in next year’s general election, the exiled Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) last week sent a letter to US Senator Jim Webb urging the US not to condemn the 2010 election before it is held, but to continue calling for an inclusive, free and fair election process.
Founded in 2001, the ENC is an umbrella organization comprised of ethnic political leaders in exile, including Karen, Karenni, Kachin, Shan, Chin, Arakanese and Mon members.
Sen Jim Webb has been widely seen as an active influence on US policy on Burma since he met with junta strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe during a visit to Burma in August. He also met with Burmese ministers in Washington.
The ENC letter read: “We believe that the United States can best help by: not condemning the 2010 elections before they are held, but instead calling for a more inclusive election process that will be free and fair.”
The letter also stated that the ethnic nationalities cannot accept in principal the military’s 2008 constitution, but, at the same time, encouraged the eligible ethnic groups to run in the election.
The ENC said in its letter that its short-term policy is to support eligible ethnic groups in running for office in the 2010 election with several aims, including ensuring that ethnic minorities have a voice in Burma’s national politics.
The exiled ethnic council said that the election will not lead to democracy, but would provide for a centralized top-down system of government.
“However, the citizens of Burma have no choice. They will at the very least be forced to cast their votes. If there are no opposition parties, the military’s candidates will win by default. The military (and the majority ethnic ‘Burman’) candidates will then become the ‘elected representatives’ of the seven ethnic states,” the ENC wrote.
Several ethnic groups have said they disagree with the content of the open letter to Webb, including the exiled National Democratic Front (NDF), and the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) and the Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP) inside Burma.
The NDF released a statement on Monday saying they rejected the regime’s 2010 election because it will implement the 2008 Constitution, which was adopted by force and fraudulent means.
A prominent Arakanese politician in Rangoon, Aye Thar Aung, who is secretary of both the Arakan League for Democracy and the CRPP, said that the junta’s election will not grant rights to the ethnic minority peoples of Burma.
“All the power is in the hands of the government’s army. Therefore, there are no benefits to us taking part in the election. Ethnic people will achieve no rights,” said Aye Thar Aung.
The CRPP has 13 members. It was formed by the National League for Democracy and a number of smaller, ethnic-based political parties on September 16, 1998, in response to the Burmese military government’s failure to recognize the results of the 1990 election.
Meanwhile, the Karen National Union (KNU) released a statement on Monday saying that the ENC letter to Jim Webb— appearing to state that the SPDC’s election due in 2010 could present some kind of opportunity for change—has caused some confusion.
The 2010 election does not represent any kind of progress toward democratization in Burma, but the 2008 Constitution represents a serious threat to ethnic diversity in Burma, according to the KNU statement.
KNU Vice-Chairman David Takapaw said he disagreed with the ENC and said that ENC policy is not in line with the KNU’s policy.
Instead of talking about an election, the most important factor for change in Burma is dialogue and the release of all political prisoners, Takapaw said.
***********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Scandal Hits Rangoon Police
By WAI MOE, Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe has told the Burmese police force that officers should protect people in line with the law, saying, “It should not practice the relation of master and servant.”
However, in Burma, one of the most corrupt countries in the world, the police enjoy almost no public respect or credibility.
A police scandal over the past few weeks has shaken up the Myanmar [Burma] Police Force (MPF), leading to the dismissal of Rangoon Division police chief, Pol Col Win Naing, over misuse of power and corruption, according to sources at Rangoon.
Sources say Win Naing was questioned by authorities in Naypyidaw and has since disappeared.
Win Naing and his wife, Hmwe Hmwe, ran illegal businesses, such as brothels and massage parlors, as well as solicited bribes from massage parlors and karaoke clubs in Rangoon.
Sources estimated that Win Naing received around 600,000 kyat (US $550) per massage parlor or karaoke club each month. After he increased the bribes to around US $925, owners of massage parlors and karaoke clubs complained to high ranking officials, sources said.
Win Naing was dismissed from his position in September following an investigation. Other law enforcement officers in Rangoon were also dismissed or transferred.
“For weeks, people in Rangoon have talked about Police Col Win Naing and the corruption charges, but private journals cannot write about it,” said a journalist in Rangoon who requested anonymity.
“But this is not new. Everybody knows corruption is rampant in the country. Now the police dismiss someone for corruption. But what about military officers?” she said.
According to editorials in the state-backed press on Tuesday, the Committee for Reforming Management System for the Burma Police Force has called for “the improvement of the MPF both in form and content.”
Corruption is common within all government departments, including the police. Berlin-based Transparency International ranks Burma ahead of only Somalia out of 180 countries in its 2008 Corruption Perception Index.
One of the biggest scandals to hit the Burmese police surfaced in the early 1990s when high ranking police officers from Rangoon Division were fired and imprisoned by then Spy Chief Khin Nyunt and his Military Intelligence (MI) over a bribe scandal surrounding the Lay Aye Thar Hotel in Rangoon, which served as an illegal brothel.
When MI was powerful, the Burmese police wielded less power, since police were also under the eye of MI. However, after Khin Nyunt and his hand-selected MI were removed from power in October 2004, Burmese police became more active. Special Branch Police now have the power to investigate political issues, once the prerogative of MI.
In a spin-off to the Win Naing case, rumors are circulating that national Police Chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi is also under investigation.
Myanma Alin reported on Tuesday, however, that Khin Yi attended the ceremony of the 45th anniversary of the Burma Police Force Day in Rangoon on Oct. 1, but that he failed to attend a 45th anniversary ceremony on Oct. 3 in Naypyidaw.
The Burmese censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, forced private journals to publish a photograph of Khin Yi this week, in what journalists said may be an attempt to deflect the investigation rumors.
According to state-run-media, Burmese Home Affairs Minister Maj-Gen Maung Oo attended the Naypyidaw ceremony along with the vice-chief of Burma police, Pol Brig-Gen Zaw Win and other key police officers.
Maung Oo said at the event that police need to avoid becoming “a burden on the people” and “try hard to become skillful police officers on whom the people can rely.”
However, the Burmese public, as the Win Naing case demonstrates, has a very negative view of police.
By WAI MOE, Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe has told the Burmese police force that officers should protect people in line with the law, saying, “It should not practice the relation of master and servant.”
However, in Burma, one of the most corrupt countries in the world, the police enjoy almost no public respect or credibility.
A police scandal over the past few weeks has shaken up the Myanmar [Burma] Police Force (MPF), leading to the dismissal of Rangoon Division police chief, Pol Col Win Naing, over misuse of power and corruption, according to sources at Rangoon.
Sources say Win Naing was questioned by authorities in Naypyidaw and has since disappeared.
Win Naing and his wife, Hmwe Hmwe, ran illegal businesses, such as brothels and massage parlors, as well as solicited bribes from massage parlors and karaoke clubs in Rangoon.
Sources estimated that Win Naing received around 600,000 kyat (US $550) per massage parlor or karaoke club each month. After he increased the bribes to around US $925, owners of massage parlors and karaoke clubs complained to high ranking officials, sources said.
Win Naing was dismissed from his position in September following an investigation. Other law enforcement officers in Rangoon were also dismissed or transferred.
“For weeks, people in Rangoon have talked about Police Col Win Naing and the corruption charges, but private journals cannot write about it,” said a journalist in Rangoon who requested anonymity.
“But this is not new. Everybody knows corruption is rampant in the country. Now the police dismiss someone for corruption. But what about military officers?” she said.
According to editorials in the state-backed press on Tuesday, the Committee for Reforming Management System for the Burma Police Force has called for “the improvement of the MPF both in form and content.”
Corruption is common within all government departments, including the police. Berlin-based Transparency International ranks Burma ahead of only Somalia out of 180 countries in its 2008 Corruption Perception Index.
One of the biggest scandals to hit the Burmese police surfaced in the early 1990s when high ranking police officers from Rangoon Division were fired and imprisoned by then Spy Chief Khin Nyunt and his Military Intelligence (MI) over a bribe scandal surrounding the Lay Aye Thar Hotel in Rangoon, which served as an illegal brothel.
When MI was powerful, the Burmese police wielded less power, since police were also under the eye of MI. However, after Khin Nyunt and his hand-selected MI were removed from power in October 2004, Burmese police became more active. Special Branch Police now have the power to investigate political issues, once the prerogative of MI.
In a spin-off to the Win Naing case, rumors are circulating that national Police Chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi is also under investigation.
Myanma Alin reported on Tuesday, however, that Khin Yi attended the ceremony of the 45th anniversary of the Burma Police Force Day in Rangoon on Oct. 1, but that he failed to attend a 45th anniversary ceremony on Oct. 3 in Naypyidaw.
The Burmese censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, forced private journals to publish a photograph of Khin Yi this week, in what journalists said may be an attempt to deflect the investigation rumors.
According to state-run-media, Burmese Home Affairs Minister Maj-Gen Maung Oo attended the Naypyidaw ceremony along with the vice-chief of Burma police, Pol Brig-Gen Zaw Win and other key police officers.
Maung Oo said at the event that police need to avoid becoming “a burden on the people” and “try hard to become skillful police officers on whom the people can rely.”
However, the Burmese public, as the Win Naing case demonstrates, has a very negative view of police.
***********************************************************
Mizzima News - Ex-servicemen to hold nation-wide conference
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 22:22
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma's Ex-Servicemen’s Organization will begin a three-day nation-wide conference in Leway near the new capital city of Naypyitaw on Wednesday.
The organization sent invitations to about 700 delegates from all States and Divisions. The conference will be held at its head office in Leway from October 7 to 9.
“We invited a total of 700 delegates from all States and Divisions,” an official of the conference organizing committee told Mizzima.
The organization extended invitations only to Chairman of each Township branch. The conference is being called the ‘Myanmar Ex-Servicemen’s Conference (Headquarter)’.
Confirming the receipt of the invitation, an official said “Our delegate has to reach the Divisional office today. Only the Chairman of the township branch is invited and our Chairman has left today”.
The Welfare organisation in 2005 held its first nation-wide conference in Rangoon.
According to sources, the organisation, which is primarily formed for the welfare of the Ex-military men and their family, is reportedly planning to transform into a political party with an aim of contesting in the forthcoming 2010 general elections.
While it could not be independently verified, rumors circulating in Rangoon and other parts of Burma suggest that the ex-servicemen group is gearing to form a political party.
The organisation is one among the few that is legally formed in Burma and are licensed to run restaurants, contractual services and transportation business for fund raising.
The township branch of the organization compiles a list of all ex-servicemen living in this township and provides financial assistance to them with this fund for alleviating their difficulties in ekeing out a livelihood.
The organization helps the ex-servicemen in getting their pension, free treatment at Tatmadaw (Armed Forces) hospitals and medical pension and gratuity for those who lost their limbs in war.
Since 2000, the organisation has helped children of former military servicemen in getting employment in Malaysia.
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 22:22
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma's Ex-Servicemen’s Organization will begin a three-day nation-wide conference in Leway near the new capital city of Naypyitaw on Wednesday.
The organization sent invitations to about 700 delegates from all States and Divisions. The conference will be held at its head office in Leway from October 7 to 9.
“We invited a total of 700 delegates from all States and Divisions,” an official of the conference organizing committee told Mizzima.
The organization extended invitations only to Chairman of each Township branch. The conference is being called the ‘Myanmar Ex-Servicemen’s Conference (Headquarter)’.
Confirming the receipt of the invitation, an official said “Our delegate has to reach the Divisional office today. Only the Chairman of the township branch is invited and our Chairman has left today”.
The Welfare organisation in 2005 held its first nation-wide conference in Rangoon.
According to sources, the organisation, which is primarily formed for the welfare of the Ex-military men and their family, is reportedly planning to transform into a political party with an aim of contesting in the forthcoming 2010 general elections.
While it could not be independently verified, rumors circulating in Rangoon and other parts of Burma suggest that the ex-servicemen group is gearing to form a political party.
The organisation is one among the few that is legally formed in Burma and are licensed to run restaurants, contractual services and transportation business for fund raising.
The township branch of the organization compiles a list of all ex-servicemen living in this township and provides financial assistance to them with this fund for alleviating their difficulties in ekeing out a livelihood.
The organization helps the ex-servicemen in getting their pension, free treatment at Tatmadaw (Armed Forces) hospitals and medical pension and gratuity for those who lost their limbs in war.
Since 2000, the organisation has helped children of former military servicemen in getting employment in Malaysia.
***********************************************************
Mizzima News - HRW urges Australia to review Burma policy
by Mungpi
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 20:55
New Delhi (Mizzima) – In the wake of the announcement by the United States of its new Burma policy, Human Rights Watch on Monday urged Australia to review its policy towards the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation.
Australia currently has an arms embargo, targeted financial sanctions for selected military generals and their relatives. However, the HRW in its letter to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith urged Australia to effectively continue in its engagement approach – Diplomacy, Sanctions, and Aid.
“Australia already has a very good policy on Burma, but we are urging them to take an initiative on a multilateral level like in the United Nations and other international arena,” David Scott Mathieson, Burma researcher at the HRW, said.
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of the HRW in his letter said, in order to have effective and meaningful engagement with Burma, Australia must be principled and should not be used by the junta to buy time.
The HRW also urged Australia to appoint a special envoy to Burma, so as to be able to enhance dialogue with the Burmese generals as well as other regional and international stakeholders.
On sanctions, HRW said Australia needs to make it more effective by updating and enlarging the list of individuals targeted for financial sanctions.
“The current Australian sanctions, like the arms embargo is really good. But the targeted financial sanctions need to be updated and should be enlarged to include companies and business enterprises that are supporting the junta,” Mathieson said.
But the HRW said while sanctions are imposed on the military generals, Australia should increase its humanitarian aid to the Burmese people as they are facing a humanitarian crisis.
However, the HRW cautioned that as the Burmese military junta is making a lot of profit from the sale of the country’s natural resources, humanitarian assistance should not undermine the ability of the Burmese junta to contribute to the needs of the people.
“Donor discussions with the SPDC over the provision of humanitarian assistance should not come in the way of the government's ability to contribute substantially to such assistance,” Roth said referring to the Burmese junta with its official name of State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
To make matters simple and clear, the HRW said humanitarian assistance should not have any political agenda as the purpose of humanitarian aid is “to keep people alive and healthy”.
“No one should expect humanitarian aid itself to have a significant political effect in opening up the country or changing the government's policies,” the HRW said.
But donors should stress on the importance of transparency and accountability in delivering humanitarian aid, including the need for approaches that strengthen civil society that respond to the views and needs of ordinary people.
The HRW’s letter came days after the US announced its new policy on Burma. Under the new policy, the US said its fundamental objectives have not altered, but it will use a different tactic using both ‘engagement’ and ‘sanctions’.
The US said it will directly engage the Burmese regime while maintaining the existing sanctions with a provision to scale down or tighten it depending on the Burmese regime’s response to the US’s concerns.
by Mungpi
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 20:55
New Delhi (Mizzima) – In the wake of the announcement by the United States of its new Burma policy, Human Rights Watch on Monday urged Australia to review its policy towards the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation.
Australia currently has an arms embargo, targeted financial sanctions for selected military generals and their relatives. However, the HRW in its letter to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith urged Australia to effectively continue in its engagement approach – Diplomacy, Sanctions, and Aid.
“Australia already has a very good policy on Burma, but we are urging them to take an initiative on a multilateral level like in the United Nations and other international arena,” David Scott Mathieson, Burma researcher at the HRW, said.
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of the HRW in his letter said, in order to have effective and meaningful engagement with Burma, Australia must be principled and should not be used by the junta to buy time.
The HRW also urged Australia to appoint a special envoy to Burma, so as to be able to enhance dialogue with the Burmese generals as well as other regional and international stakeholders.
On sanctions, HRW said Australia needs to make it more effective by updating and enlarging the list of individuals targeted for financial sanctions.
“The current Australian sanctions, like the arms embargo is really good. But the targeted financial sanctions need to be updated and should be enlarged to include companies and business enterprises that are supporting the junta,” Mathieson said.
But the HRW said while sanctions are imposed on the military generals, Australia should increase its humanitarian aid to the Burmese people as they are facing a humanitarian crisis.
However, the HRW cautioned that as the Burmese military junta is making a lot of profit from the sale of the country’s natural resources, humanitarian assistance should not undermine the ability of the Burmese junta to contribute to the needs of the people.
“Donor discussions with the SPDC over the provision of humanitarian assistance should not come in the way of the government's ability to contribute substantially to such assistance,” Roth said referring to the Burmese junta with its official name of State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
To make matters simple and clear, the HRW said humanitarian assistance should not have any political agenda as the purpose of humanitarian aid is “to keep people alive and healthy”.
“No one should expect humanitarian aid itself to have a significant political effect in opening up the country or changing the government's policies,” the HRW said.
But donors should stress on the importance of transparency and accountability in delivering humanitarian aid, including the need for approaches that strengthen civil society that respond to the views and needs of ordinary people.
The HRW’s letter came days after the US announced its new policy on Burma. Under the new policy, the US said its fundamental objectives have not altered, but it will use a different tactic using both ‘engagement’ and ‘sanctions’.
The US said it will directly engage the Burmese regime while maintaining the existing sanctions with a provision to scale down or tighten it depending on the Burmese regime’s response to the US’s concerns.
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Mizzima News - Ethnic Nationalities Council chair clarifies groups’ position
by Nem Davies
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 23:18
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Chairman of the Ethnic Nationalities Council in exile, a coalition of ethnic political organisations, on Monday made it abundantly clear that the Council’s position does not support the Burmese military junta’s 2010 elections plans.
The clarification by Khu Hte Bu Phe, Chairman of the ENC, came days after a letter sent in the name of the Council to US Senator James Webb, a strong advocate of engagement with the Burmese regime, before hosting of a Congressional hearing on Burma.
The letter, signed by the Secretary General of the ENC and dated September 28, explained to the US Senator of ENC’s position on the Burmese junta’s 2010 election plans saying, in principle the ethnics in Burma do not accept the 2008 constitution and the forthcoming 2010 elections.
But since the citizens of Burma will be forced to cast their votes, the ENC’s short-term policy is to support eligible ethnic groups in running for office in the 2010 in order to ensure that ethnics will have a voice in Burma’s politics and to allow ethnics to participate in governance and development of their homeland, the letter said.
In the long-term, the letter said, ENC hopes to work on developing a civil society that could hold an elected government accountable to the people.
But the ENC chairman, in his statement on Monday denied knowledge of the letter sent to Senator Webb and said the Council does not accept the junta’s 2008 constitution and 2010 elections.
“It [the council] has already adopted a position that it will not oppose or attack ethnic organizations and individuals wanting to contest the elections, or the people who will vote in the elections,” said Khu Hte Bu Phe.
“This is, therefore, to let all know that the letter to Senator Webb is not the position of ENC…” Khu Hte Bu Phe said.
Meanwhile, on Monday the National Democratic Front, a coalition of ethnic armed resistance groups, in a statement said the group reaffirms its position expressly rejecting the junta’s 2010 elections, which will be based on the 2008 constitution that is adopted by force and fraudulent means.
The NDF said, the junta’s elections will neither resolve the political crisis faced by the Burmese people nor will it lead to national reconciliation and democracy but is a process that will turn Burma into a further ‘failed state’ and allow continuance of the junta.
“We regard the reactionary political wind blowing at home and abroad, viewing the 2008 constitution and the 2010 elections as 'something that is better than nothing' and promoting the attitude to "take whatever opportunity is available' as merely an attempt to sanitize the SPDC and perpetuate the existence of military dictatorship,” said the NDF, referring to the junta by its official name – State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
The statement also said, the junta’s threat to use force on ceasefire groups, which have rejected their proposal to transform into Border Guard Forces, shows the junta’s unwillingness to solve ethnic issues peacefully.
“We the NDF would like to earnestly urge the entire people to explicitly oppose the 2010 elections of the SPDC…,” the statement said.
Similarly, the Karen National Union (KNU), the longest surviving insurgent group in Burma, on Monday issued a statement saying the ENC’s letter to Senator Webb, which is “appearing to state that the SPDC's elections due in 2010 could present some kind of opportunity for change, has caused some confusion.”
“We would like to reaffirm our statement of April 24, 2009 that elections due in 2010 do not represent any kind of progress towards democratization in Burma,” said the KNU, which is also a member of the NDF.
David Takarpaw, Vice-Chairman of the KNU and also holding the Chairmanship of the NDF, in an interview said, the KNU as well as the NDF are in a position to reject the junta’s 2008 constitution and the forthcoming 2010 elections as the junta has made no progress to prove that the elections would be free and fair.
“With the 2008 constitution not being amended, political prisoners still remaining behind bars, and no freedom of association and campaigning, the elections cannot bring any progress,” David Takarpaw said.
He said, without such conditions being implemented, even if the ethnics join the election, the nature of the 2008 constitution does not guarantee the rights for ethnic groups.
The KNU also urged the international community not to be content regarding the junta’s elections plans and not to “wait and see” as the election plan will only escalate repression and instability.
by Nem Davies
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 23:18
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Chairman of the Ethnic Nationalities Council in exile, a coalition of ethnic political organisations, on Monday made it abundantly clear that the Council’s position does not support the Burmese military junta’s 2010 elections plans.
The clarification by Khu Hte Bu Phe, Chairman of the ENC, came days after a letter sent in the name of the Council to US Senator James Webb, a strong advocate of engagement with the Burmese regime, before hosting of a Congressional hearing on Burma.
The letter, signed by the Secretary General of the ENC and dated September 28, explained to the US Senator of ENC’s position on the Burmese junta’s 2010 election plans saying, in principle the ethnics in Burma do not accept the 2008 constitution and the forthcoming 2010 elections.
But since the citizens of Burma will be forced to cast their votes, the ENC’s short-term policy is to support eligible ethnic groups in running for office in the 2010 in order to ensure that ethnics will have a voice in Burma’s politics and to allow ethnics to participate in governance and development of their homeland, the letter said.
In the long-term, the letter said, ENC hopes to work on developing a civil society that could hold an elected government accountable to the people.
But the ENC chairman, in his statement on Monday denied knowledge of the letter sent to Senator Webb and said the Council does not accept the junta’s 2008 constitution and 2010 elections.
“It [the council] has already adopted a position that it will not oppose or attack ethnic organizations and individuals wanting to contest the elections, or the people who will vote in the elections,” said Khu Hte Bu Phe.
“This is, therefore, to let all know that the letter to Senator Webb is not the position of ENC…” Khu Hte Bu Phe said.
Meanwhile, on Monday the National Democratic Front, a coalition of ethnic armed resistance groups, in a statement said the group reaffirms its position expressly rejecting the junta’s 2010 elections, which will be based on the 2008 constitution that is adopted by force and fraudulent means.
The NDF said, the junta’s elections will neither resolve the political crisis faced by the Burmese people nor will it lead to national reconciliation and democracy but is a process that will turn Burma into a further ‘failed state’ and allow continuance of the junta.
“We regard the reactionary political wind blowing at home and abroad, viewing the 2008 constitution and the 2010 elections as 'something that is better than nothing' and promoting the attitude to "take whatever opportunity is available' as merely an attempt to sanitize the SPDC and perpetuate the existence of military dictatorship,” said the NDF, referring to the junta by its official name – State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
The statement also said, the junta’s threat to use force on ceasefire groups, which have rejected their proposal to transform into Border Guard Forces, shows the junta’s unwillingness to solve ethnic issues peacefully.
“We the NDF would like to earnestly urge the entire people to explicitly oppose the 2010 elections of the SPDC…,” the statement said.
Similarly, the Karen National Union (KNU), the longest surviving insurgent group in Burma, on Monday issued a statement saying the ENC’s letter to Senator Webb, which is “appearing to state that the SPDC's elections due in 2010 could present some kind of opportunity for change, has caused some confusion.”
“We would like to reaffirm our statement of April 24, 2009 that elections due in 2010 do not represent any kind of progress towards democratization in Burma,” said the KNU, which is also a member of the NDF.
David Takarpaw, Vice-Chairman of the KNU and also holding the Chairmanship of the NDF, in an interview said, the KNU as well as the NDF are in a position to reject the junta’s 2008 constitution and the forthcoming 2010 elections as the junta has made no progress to prove that the elections would be free and fair.
“With the 2008 constitution not being amended, political prisoners still remaining behind bars, and no freedom of association and campaigning, the elections cannot bring any progress,” David Takarpaw said.
He said, without such conditions being implemented, even if the ethnics join the election, the nature of the 2008 constitution does not guarantee the rights for ethnic groups.
The KNU also urged the international community not to be content regarding the junta’s elections plans and not to “wait and see” as the election plan will only escalate repression and instability.
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Karen group clarifies election stance
Oct 6, 2009 (DVB)–Burma’s elections next year are not a sign of progress towards democratization, according to a prominent ethnic opposition group who said that repression will continue beyond 2010.
The Karen National Union (KNU) made the statement in reaction to a letter sent by the umbrella Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) to US senator Jim Webb, suggesting that elections might herald change in Burma.
“It is…our hope that the new government will be more open to negotiating a political solution with the ethnic groups that are still engaged in armed struggle,” the ENC letter said, adding that it would “support eligible ethnic groups in running for office in the 2010 elections”.
Critics of the Burmese government have said however that the elections are likely to be a farce, with the 2008 constitution appearing to guarantee continuation of military rule.
The KNU today responded with a statement repeating its calls to the international community not to endorse the elections, claiming that they “will not result in any improvement of the human rights and humanitarian situation”.
“Before the elections there must be freedom to campaign, and there must be freedom of the press…and there must election monitoring by international NGOs and organizations,” said KNU spokesperson David Thakabaw.
While the ENC letter echoed Thakabaw’s comments, it appeared ultimately to support participation in the elections.
“[ENC] thinking has become very reactionary,” Thakabaw said. “They think if they boycott the elections, the ethnic groups will become very sidelined or isolated.
“But if democratic and ethnic groups boycott the elections, then the [government] will become sidelined. Nobody will accept the election results.”
Reporting by Francis Wade
Oct 6, 2009 (DVB)–Burma’s elections next year are not a sign of progress towards democratization, according to a prominent ethnic opposition group who said that repression will continue beyond 2010.
The Karen National Union (KNU) made the statement in reaction to a letter sent by the umbrella Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) to US senator Jim Webb, suggesting that elections might herald change in Burma.
“It is…our hope that the new government will be more open to negotiating a political solution with the ethnic groups that are still engaged in armed struggle,” the ENC letter said, adding that it would “support eligible ethnic groups in running for office in the 2010 elections”.
Critics of the Burmese government have said however that the elections are likely to be a farce, with the 2008 constitution appearing to guarantee continuation of military rule.
The KNU today responded with a statement repeating its calls to the international community not to endorse the elections, claiming that they “will not result in any improvement of the human rights and humanitarian situation”.
“Before the elections there must be freedom to campaign, and there must be freedom of the press…and there must election monitoring by international NGOs and organizations,” said KNU spokesperson David Thakabaw.
While the ENC letter echoed Thakabaw’s comments, it appeared ultimately to support participation in the elections.
“[ENC] thinking has become very reactionary,” Thakabaw said. “They think if they boycott the elections, the ethnic groups will become very sidelined or isolated.
“But if democratic and ethnic groups boycott the elections, then the [government] will become sidelined. Nobody will accept the election results.”
Reporting by Francis Wade
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Bangladesh sends troops to Burma borderOct 5, 2009 (DVB)–Bangladesh’s border patrol army has sent troops to its border with Burma after the Burmese government resumed construction of its controversial border fence.
The move comes amid rising tension between the two countries, with a recent flare-up in maritime disputes over the contested Bay of Bengal gas fields.
Burma in April suspended work on the fence following a meeting between the Burmese border security force, Nasaka, and their counterparts in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).
“Burmese authorities are restarting the fence construction as planned upon re-entering the dry season, after taking a break during the rainy season,” said Khaing Pray Thein, an Burma observer based on the Bangladesh-Burma border.
Some BDR companies were also withdrawn in late February this year after an attempted mutiny occurred.
Following the resumption of building, the BDR reportedly sent three fresh battalions to the border last week.
Khaing Pray Thein added that the construction of a Bangladeshi naval base near the Naf river, adjacent to Burma, has further exacerbated tension.
A maritime dispute in November 2008 threatened to draw the two countries into conflict, with land and naval forces lining up within striking distance of one another. The Burmese navy was earlier this year accused of straying into Bangladeshi waters.
Bangladesh recently granted rights to the US company ConcoPhilips and Ireland’s Tullow to explore for gas in its waters. They have been expressly forbidden by Dhaka from exploring in fields adjacent to Burmese waters.
Bangladesh has remained vigilant on its border due to influxes of Burmese produced narcotics, particularly methamphetamines, and the ongoing refugee crisis.
A Bangladeshi official recently stated that as many as 400,000 Rohingya refugees could be living illegally in the country, having fled alleged racial persecution and poverty in their native Burma.
Meanwhile there are approximately 28,000 said to be living officially in camps inside Bangladesh.
The issue of their plight was said to have been brought up at recent talks between the US and the Burmese government, with the Bangladesh government law ministry
providing statistics to the US.
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