Myanmar to release Suu Kyi party deputy
Fri Feb 12, 7:47 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Military-ruled Myanmar is set to release the elderly deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party when his house arrest term expires this weekend, an official said Friday.
Tin Oo, 83, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been detained without trial since he was arrested with Suu Kyi after an attack on their motorcade during a political tour in 2003.
"U Tin Oo will be released tomorrow (Saturday) as his detention period is complete," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A week ago, the NLD said it was expecting Tin Oo's release and said he would resume his political activities.
Tin Oo, a retired general, was transferred from prison to house arrest in Yangon in February 2004 under an anti-subversion law.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office. Party leader and democracy icon Suu Kyi, 64, has been detained for most of the past 20 years.
Her detention was extended by 18 months last August after an American man swam to her lakeside home uninvited.
Earlier this week Suu Kyi told her lawyer and NLD spokesman, Nyan Win, it was too early for the party to decide about taking part in elections expected this year, while freedom of expression and information remain elusive.
Myanmar's ruling junta has promised polls as part of a so-called roadmap to democracy, but no date has been set and critics say the plans are simply designed to entrench the generals' power.
The elections, which analysts predict will take place in October or November, would be the first held since the ones in 1990.
On Friday, Senior General Than Shwe made a speech in the remote capital Naypyidaw to celebrate Union Day, which marks the 63rd anniversary of the nation's unification.
"Now, according to the state's seven-step roadmap, a free and fair election will take place soon," the junta supremo said.
Myanmar's 2008 constitution bans Suu Kyi from holding elected office, while reserving a quarter of the seats in parliament for serving soldiers.
Fri Feb 12, 7:47 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Military-ruled Myanmar is set to release the elderly deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party when his house arrest term expires this weekend, an official said Friday.
Tin Oo, 83, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been detained without trial since he was arrested with Suu Kyi after an attack on their motorcade during a political tour in 2003.
"U Tin Oo will be released tomorrow (Saturday) as his detention period is complete," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A week ago, the NLD said it was expecting Tin Oo's release and said he would resume his political activities.
Tin Oo, a retired general, was transferred from prison to house arrest in Yangon in February 2004 under an anti-subversion law.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office. Party leader and democracy icon Suu Kyi, 64, has been detained for most of the past 20 years.
Her detention was extended by 18 months last August after an American man swam to her lakeside home uninvited.
Earlier this week Suu Kyi told her lawyer and NLD spokesman, Nyan Win, it was too early for the party to decide about taking part in elections expected this year, while freedom of expression and information remain elusive.
Myanmar's ruling junta has promised polls as part of a so-called roadmap to democracy, but no date has been set and critics say the plans are simply designed to entrench the generals' power.
The elections, which analysts predict will take place in October or November, would be the first held since the ones in 1990.
On Friday, Senior General Than Shwe made a speech in the remote capital Naypyidaw to celebrate Union Day, which marks the 63rd anniversary of the nation's unification.
"Now, according to the state's seven-step roadmap, a free and fair election will take place soon," the junta supremo said.
Myanmar's 2008 constitution bans Suu Kyi from holding elected office, while reserving a quarter of the seats in parliament for serving soldiers.
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Senator says US must engage Myanmar on sentence
Thu Feb 11, 4:37 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Senator Jim Webb, who paid a rare visit to Myanmar last year, called Thursday for the United States to keep engaging the military regime after it handed a three-year sentence to a US citizen.
Webb, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, said he was concerned about Myanmar's sentence on Thursday of activist Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung.
"The circumstances of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's arrest, confinement and trial demonstrate clearly the need for more consistent high-level engagement between our two governments," said Webb, a Democrat from Virginia.
"It is strongly in the national interest of the United States to continue to promote a democratic transition in Burma," Webb said, using Myanmar's former name.
Webb last year visited Myanmar and secured the release of an eccentric American who had swum to the home of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.
The United States has demanded that the regime immediately release Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who has been active in Myanmar's pro-democracy movement and said he returned to his native country to see his ailing mother.
The court convicted him of fraud and forgery, in part for not formally renouncing his former nationality.
The conviction led Representative Howard Berman, a Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to call on President Barack Obama's administration to consider tightening sanctions on the regime.
The Obama administration last year entered talks with Myanmar to coax it out of isolation. The regime plans this year to hold elections, which Western governments and the opposition fear will be a sham.
Thu Feb 11, 4:37 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Senator Jim Webb, who paid a rare visit to Myanmar last year, called Thursday for the United States to keep engaging the military regime after it handed a three-year sentence to a US citizen.
Webb, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, said he was concerned about Myanmar's sentence on Thursday of activist Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by Nyi Nyi Aung.
"The circumstances of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's arrest, confinement and trial demonstrate clearly the need for more consistent high-level engagement between our two governments," said Webb, a Democrat from Virginia.
"It is strongly in the national interest of the United States to continue to promote a democratic transition in Burma," Webb said, using Myanmar's former name.
Webb last year visited Myanmar and secured the release of an eccentric American who had swum to the home of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.
The United States has demanded that the regime immediately release Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who has been active in Myanmar's pro-democracy movement and said he returned to his native country to see his ailing mother.
The court convicted him of fraud and forgery, in part for not formally renouncing his former nationality.
The conviction led Representative Howard Berman, a Democrat who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to call on President Barack Obama's administration to consider tightening sanctions on the regime.
The Obama administration last year entered talks with Myanmar to coax it out of isolation. The regime plans this year to hold elections, which Western governments and the opposition fear will be a sham.
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Myanmar Military Regime Confirms Holding Of Election 'soon'
5 hours ago
(RTTNews) - Ending months of speculation and showing signs of compliance to calls by the international community, the military regime in Myanmar has confirmed that it will hold a general election soon, honoring previous commitments.
'A free and fair general election will be held this year in accordance with the seven step road map,' state-controlled media quoted Senior General Than Shwe as saying in his annual message marking Union Day in the military capital of Naypyitaw on Friday.
He said "members of parliament, who the voters think will be capable of generating a prosperous future for the nation, will be elected by ballot."
The junta's road map lists a general election as one of the steps toward a "discipline-flourishing democracy."
However, detained Opposition pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi responded to the news on a pessimistic note. Nyan Win, spokesperson for Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), quoted her as saying that "we cannot say at this moment whether to participate in the election." He said the main reason she gave was the lack of freedom of information.
Suu Kyi's party had won a landslide victory in the 1990 election but the junta refused to recognize it.
Burmese Union Day commemorates the signing of an agreement in 1947 among various Myanmar ethnic groups and factions to create the independent republic of Burma.
Now known as Myanmar, Burma was liberated from Britain in 1948 after a century of colonial rule.
Myanmar's military government announced in early 2008 that elections would take place in 2010.
If the word is kept, it will mark the East Asian country's first general elections in two decades. But the necessary election laws have to be passed and a date set to pave the way for the vote.
The announcement comes two weeks after Myanmarese Home Minister Major General Maung Oo said that the government would pursue an international-style market economy for the country after holding "free and fair" elections, the date of which is yet to be finalized.
He also indicated about releasing Tin Oo, the veteran vice chairman of NLD.
His son, Thant Zin Oo, said the former Army Commander would probably be released on Saturday as part of attempts by the junta to refurbish its image before the election.
Tin Oo (82) has been detained for seven years without trial.
The Supreme Court is to deliver its verdict in the next couple of weeks on Suu Kyi's legal appeal against the extension of her current house arrest.
Myanmar's democracy icon, who has been detained in her house for about 14 of the past 20 years, Suu Kyi had wrote to the country's military leader Than Shwe in November last, expressing her willingness to work with the government to get Western sanctions against the country lifted.
She was allowed in recent months to meet ailing senior members of her party, as well as with members of the country's military administration.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights special rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, has requested to meet with Suu Kyi and other political leaders during his third mission to the country beginning at weekend.
"2010 appears to be a critical time for the people of Myanmar, as the government plans to hold a national election after 20 years," he said in a press release.
Quintana added that he intends to review and report on progress of implementation of the four core human rights elements that he had recommended.
Under immense pressure from the international community, including rigorous sanctions, Myanmar's military regime has been comparatively flexible in its stance since last year.
It announced an amnesty for more than 6,000 prisoners in February 2009.
An American, who was jailed for swimming secretly to the Nobel Peace laureate's lakeside home in June, was released in August after Washington's intervention.
A high-level U.S. delegation visited the country in November and said the United States was ready to improve its relations with Myanmar if the ruling military administration made significant moves toward political reconciliation.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington was not "setting or dictating any conditions," in return for Myanmar's military administration enforcing democratic changes in that country.
However, she made it clear that US sanctions would continue until a "meaningful process" takes place for a significant progress in democracy.
5 hours ago
(RTTNews) - Ending months of speculation and showing signs of compliance to calls by the international community, the military regime in Myanmar has confirmed that it will hold a general election soon, honoring previous commitments.
'A free and fair general election will be held this year in accordance with the seven step road map,' state-controlled media quoted Senior General Than Shwe as saying in his annual message marking Union Day in the military capital of Naypyitaw on Friday.
He said "members of parliament, who the voters think will be capable of generating a prosperous future for the nation, will be elected by ballot."
The junta's road map lists a general election as one of the steps toward a "discipline-flourishing democracy."
However, detained Opposition pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi responded to the news on a pessimistic note. Nyan Win, spokesperson for Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), quoted her as saying that "we cannot say at this moment whether to participate in the election." He said the main reason she gave was the lack of freedom of information.
Suu Kyi's party had won a landslide victory in the 1990 election but the junta refused to recognize it.
Burmese Union Day commemorates the signing of an agreement in 1947 among various Myanmar ethnic groups and factions to create the independent republic of Burma.
Now known as Myanmar, Burma was liberated from Britain in 1948 after a century of colonial rule.
Myanmar's military government announced in early 2008 that elections would take place in 2010.
If the word is kept, it will mark the East Asian country's first general elections in two decades. But the necessary election laws have to be passed and a date set to pave the way for the vote.
The announcement comes two weeks after Myanmarese Home Minister Major General Maung Oo said that the government would pursue an international-style market economy for the country after holding "free and fair" elections, the date of which is yet to be finalized.
He also indicated about releasing Tin Oo, the veteran vice chairman of NLD.
His son, Thant Zin Oo, said the former Army Commander would probably be released on Saturday as part of attempts by the junta to refurbish its image before the election.
Tin Oo (82) has been detained for seven years without trial.
The Supreme Court is to deliver its verdict in the next couple of weeks on Suu Kyi's legal appeal against the extension of her current house arrest.
Myanmar's democracy icon, who has been detained in her house for about 14 of the past 20 years, Suu Kyi had wrote to the country's military leader Than Shwe in November last, expressing her willingness to work with the government to get Western sanctions against the country lifted.
She was allowed in recent months to meet ailing senior members of her party, as well as with members of the country's military administration.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights special rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, has requested to meet with Suu Kyi and other political leaders during his third mission to the country beginning at weekend.
"2010 appears to be a critical time for the people of Myanmar, as the government plans to hold a national election after 20 years," he said in a press release.
Quintana added that he intends to review and report on progress of implementation of the four core human rights elements that he had recommended.
Under immense pressure from the international community, including rigorous sanctions, Myanmar's military regime has been comparatively flexible in its stance since last year.
It announced an amnesty for more than 6,000 prisoners in February 2009.
An American, who was jailed for swimming secretly to the Nobel Peace laureate's lakeside home in June, was released in August after Washington's intervention.
A high-level U.S. delegation visited the country in November and said the United States was ready to improve its relations with Myanmar if the ruling military administration made significant moves toward political reconciliation.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington was not "setting or dictating any conditions," in return for Myanmar's military administration enforcing democratic changes in that country.
However, she made it clear that US sanctions would continue until a "meaningful process" takes place for a significant progress in democracy.
*************************************************************
Tens of thousands of child soldiers in Myanmar
ethiopianreview.com | February 12th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
They are sometimes as young as 10 and they fight not only in the official army but for various rebel groupings across the country.
NGOs such as Terre des Hommes and Human Rights Watch estimate that there are up to 80,000 of them. Although it is difficult to acquire exact figures, Human Rights Watch calculates that every fifth soldier is under 18.
Jo Becker, the Children’s Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, co-authored a report entitled “Sold to be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma.”
11 years old and only 1.3 meters tall
She said that children were recruited regardless of age or physical capability. “We interviewed one boy who was recruited when he was only 11 years old. He was only 1.3 meters tall and weighed only 31 kilograms yet the army still accepted him.
“They go through the same training as adults in most cases and they may be deployed into combat situations from the age of 12. They are used to fight against ethnic armed opposition groups in the country and they’re also used to commit human rights abuses such as burning villages or rounding up civilians for forced labor purposes.”
The conditions in the army are reportedly atrocious. One reason why children are used is that there is a lack of adult volunteers and high desertion rates. So despite Red Hand Day and countless other initiatives campaigning against the use of children in armed conflict, in Myanmar the number ofchild soldiers continues to rise.
Trapped by recruiters
Becker explained how easily boys were trapped into joining the army: “Recruiters will typically approach children who are on their own; boys who are in public places like the marketplace, train or bus stations.
“One of their typical tactics is to ask a boy to produce his identity card and if the boy can’t produce his card the recruiter will say ‘Well you have to go to jail or you can join the army.’ So in this way many boys are coerced.”
The recruiters themselves receive cash payments for each new recruit. The children’s records are then often falsified because the official minimum recruitment age is still 18.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Myanmar junta to do more to ensure that children are not recruited into the army. He has also insisted that children should not be arrested and imprisoned for deserting. So far, his demands have fallen on deaf ears.
ethiopianreview.com | February 12th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
They are sometimes as young as 10 and they fight not only in the official army but for various rebel groupings across the country.
NGOs such as Terre des Hommes and Human Rights Watch estimate that there are up to 80,000 of them. Although it is difficult to acquire exact figures, Human Rights Watch calculates that every fifth soldier is under 18.
Jo Becker, the Children’s Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, co-authored a report entitled “Sold to be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma.”
11 years old and only 1.3 meters tall
She said that children were recruited regardless of age or physical capability. “We interviewed one boy who was recruited when he was only 11 years old. He was only 1.3 meters tall and weighed only 31 kilograms yet the army still accepted him.
“They go through the same training as adults in most cases and they may be deployed into combat situations from the age of 12. They are used to fight against ethnic armed opposition groups in the country and they’re also used to commit human rights abuses such as burning villages or rounding up civilians for forced labor purposes.”
The conditions in the army are reportedly atrocious. One reason why children are used is that there is a lack of adult volunteers and high desertion rates. So despite Red Hand Day and countless other initiatives campaigning against the use of children in armed conflict, in Myanmar the number ofchild soldiers continues to rise.
Trapped by recruiters
Becker explained how easily boys were trapped into joining the army: “Recruiters will typically approach children who are on their own; boys who are in public places like the marketplace, train or bus stations.
“One of their typical tactics is to ask a boy to produce his identity card and if the boy can’t produce his card the recruiter will say ‘Well you have to go to jail or you can join the army.’ So in this way many boys are coerced.”
The recruiters themselves receive cash payments for each new recruit. The children’s records are then often falsified because the official minimum recruitment age is still 18.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Myanmar junta to do more to ensure that children are not recruited into the army. He has also insisted that children should not be arrested and imprisoned for deserting. So far, his demands have fallen on deaf ears.
*************************************************************
FLEXNEWS - Myanmar Plans Reforms to Revive Rice Sector
Source: Reuters
12/02/2010
Feb 12 - After doubling rice exports last year, military-ruled Myanmar is retooling its farms and beginning to dream it could once again be the world's top rice exporter, a status it lost through mismanagement and sanctions.
Traders acknowledge the progress made, but see years of hard work ahead if that dream is to be realised, and the head of the newly formed Myanmar Rice Industry Association (MRIA) agrees.
"Myanmar has far higher potential for rice production than our neighbours Thailand and Vietnam, but we still have a lot to do to develop our rice industry like theirs," MRIA chairman Chit Khine told Reuters.
Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, shipped 8.57 million tonnes in 2009 after a record 10 million in 2008. Vietnam, the second biggest, exported 6 million tonnes in 2009.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Myanmar exported 800,000 tonnes in 2009, but private surveyor SGS (Myanmar) Ltd. puts the total at 1.03 million tonnes, a jump from 547,000 in 2008.
"Most of our rice went to West Africa and there is growing demand for it, with our enticing prices," SGS Managing Director Kyaw Tin said.
"Now we can export about 800,000 tonnes annually without any concern for domestic sufficiency," he added.
He reckoned about 300,000 tonnes of the 2009 total was grain carried over from 2008, when exports were halted after Cyclone Nargis hit the country's rice bowl Irrawaddy region, killing over 134,000 people plus 200,000 animals used in the fields.
In its best year, 1934, when it was called Burma and was the world's top exporter, Myanmar shipped 3.4 million tonnes.
The rice sector fell into decline because of mismanagement under a socialist government from 1962 to 1988 and the country has also suffered from trade sanctions imposed by the West because of its human rights record.
The military regime in power since 1988 has tried to revive the sector and has just formed the MRIA by merging associations of growers, millers and exporters with a think tank grouping independent economists and technocrats.
LOW YIELDS
Average yield per acre of paddy (unhusked rice) in Thailand and Vietnam was about 200 baskets -- one basket is about 46 pounds (21 kg) -- compared with just 60 baskets in Myanmar, the MRIA's Chit Khine said.
"Although they annually export about 10 and 6 million tonnes respectively, it doesn't have any impact on their domestic market. In our case, if we boost exports to around 1 million, the impact will be felt," he said.
Developing the agricultural sector was the best way to raise the living standards of the population, 70 percent of whom are farmers or their families, the 62-year old businessman said.
"One crucial thing we are doing is collecting correct and accurate data on sown acreage, yields, domestic consumption, the flow of rice, etc. Without correct and accurate data, it's difficult to adopt correct policies," he said.
There is no official forecast for Myanmar's 2010 rice exports. The FAO forecast in December that it could ship 1 million tonnes due to abundant supply and demand from Africa.
After being severely hit by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Myanmar's rice sector has now recovered and the current 2009/10 crop could produce around 31.5 million tonnes of paddy, giving around 19.8 million tonnes of milled rice, according to the FAO.
Traders agreed that exports should rise this year, especially as prices were competitive, compared with Thailand and Vietnam.
Myanmar's 5 percent broken grade white rice was quoted at around $350 per tonne, well below the $430 paid for the same grade in Vietnam and $540 in Thailand.
"That's Myanmar's advantage, allowing it to sell more rice this year, especially to customers in Africa that can't afford high-quality grades," said a trader at an international house in Bangkok that deals with Myanmar.
But traders also listed multiple disadvantages -- poor logistic systems, an absence of quality control, late shipments as well as the mismanagement of fertilisers.
"It's possible that Myanmar could become a major exporter of rice, but it would take a very long time to achieve its dream," another trader said.
Chit Khine said the MRIA was addressing the problems.
"Our short-term strategy is to increase yield per acre by mechanising the industry, using quality seeds and more fertilisers and so on," he said, adding that sown acreage would be increased only in the long run.
Myanmar's low yield is generally attributed to low use of chemical fertilisers. According to FAO data, Thailand uses about 6.8 times more fertiliser per acre than Myanmar, while Bangladesh and Vietnam use 6.3 and 5.8 times more respectively.
Source: Reuters
12/02/2010
Feb 12 - After doubling rice exports last year, military-ruled Myanmar is retooling its farms and beginning to dream it could once again be the world's top rice exporter, a status it lost through mismanagement and sanctions.
Traders acknowledge the progress made, but see years of hard work ahead if that dream is to be realised, and the head of the newly formed Myanmar Rice Industry Association (MRIA) agrees.
"Myanmar has far higher potential for rice production than our neighbours Thailand and Vietnam, but we still have a lot to do to develop our rice industry like theirs," MRIA chairman Chit Khine told Reuters.
Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, shipped 8.57 million tonnes in 2009 after a record 10 million in 2008. Vietnam, the second biggest, exported 6 million tonnes in 2009.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Myanmar exported 800,000 tonnes in 2009, but private surveyor SGS (Myanmar) Ltd. puts the total at 1.03 million tonnes, a jump from 547,000 in 2008.
"Most of our rice went to West Africa and there is growing demand for it, with our enticing prices," SGS Managing Director Kyaw Tin said.
"Now we can export about 800,000 tonnes annually without any concern for domestic sufficiency," he added.
He reckoned about 300,000 tonnes of the 2009 total was grain carried over from 2008, when exports were halted after Cyclone Nargis hit the country's rice bowl Irrawaddy region, killing over 134,000 people plus 200,000 animals used in the fields.
In its best year, 1934, when it was called Burma and was the world's top exporter, Myanmar shipped 3.4 million tonnes.
The rice sector fell into decline because of mismanagement under a socialist government from 1962 to 1988 and the country has also suffered from trade sanctions imposed by the West because of its human rights record.
The military regime in power since 1988 has tried to revive the sector and has just formed the MRIA by merging associations of growers, millers and exporters with a think tank grouping independent economists and technocrats.
LOW YIELDS
Average yield per acre of paddy (unhusked rice) in Thailand and Vietnam was about 200 baskets -- one basket is about 46 pounds (21 kg) -- compared with just 60 baskets in Myanmar, the MRIA's Chit Khine said.
"Although they annually export about 10 and 6 million tonnes respectively, it doesn't have any impact on their domestic market. In our case, if we boost exports to around 1 million, the impact will be felt," he said.
Developing the agricultural sector was the best way to raise the living standards of the population, 70 percent of whom are farmers or their families, the 62-year old businessman said.
"One crucial thing we are doing is collecting correct and accurate data on sown acreage, yields, domestic consumption, the flow of rice, etc. Without correct and accurate data, it's difficult to adopt correct policies," he said.
There is no official forecast for Myanmar's 2010 rice exports. The FAO forecast in December that it could ship 1 million tonnes due to abundant supply and demand from Africa.
After being severely hit by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Myanmar's rice sector has now recovered and the current 2009/10 crop could produce around 31.5 million tonnes of paddy, giving around 19.8 million tonnes of milled rice, according to the FAO.
Traders agreed that exports should rise this year, especially as prices were competitive, compared with Thailand and Vietnam.
Myanmar's 5 percent broken grade white rice was quoted at around $350 per tonne, well below the $430 paid for the same grade in Vietnam and $540 in Thailand.
"That's Myanmar's advantage, allowing it to sell more rice this year, especially to customers in Africa that can't afford high-quality grades," said a trader at an international house in Bangkok that deals with Myanmar.
But traders also listed multiple disadvantages -- poor logistic systems, an absence of quality control, late shipments as well as the mismanagement of fertilisers.
"It's possible that Myanmar could become a major exporter of rice, but it would take a very long time to achieve its dream," another trader said.
Chit Khine said the MRIA was addressing the problems.
"Our short-term strategy is to increase yield per acre by mechanising the industry, using quality seeds and more fertilisers and so on," he said, adding that sown acreage would be increased only in the long run.
Myanmar's low yield is generally attributed to low use of chemical fertilisers. According to FAO data, Thailand uses about 6.8 times more fertiliser per acre than Myanmar, while Bangladesh and Vietnam use 6.3 and 5.8 times more respectively.
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February 12, 2010 19:31 PM
Australia To Provide Scholarships To Myanmar Students
YANGON, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- The Australian government will provide scholarships to post-graduate students in Myanmar to help develop the country's human resources, China's Xinhua news agency cited a local daily as saying on Friday.
Ten students will be chosen to receive the Australian scholarship for 2010-2011 academic year, the report said.
Australia is also providing scholarships to students in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, Germany and European countries.
The scholarships will cover journalism, mass communications, public relations, accounting and finance, international business management and marketing, logistics management, e-business and e- commerce, construction management and property, and hospitality and tourism, the report said.
In November last year, an Australian college announced offering 10,000 Australian dollars' scholarships to Myanmar students for their pursuit of further study at the Raffles College of Design and Commerce in Sidney.
Those scholarships-2010 were restricted to students who passed the matriculation examination, GCE 'O' level and IELTS exam at 6. 0, and the college was set to open this month.
In February last year, two universities from Australia -- Central Queensland University and Jame Cook University, along with other 20 international schools, participated in a Myanmar-hosted international education fair in Lashio, Shan state.
Australia To Provide Scholarships To Myanmar Students
YANGON, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- The Australian government will provide scholarships to post-graduate students in Myanmar to help develop the country's human resources, China's Xinhua news agency cited a local daily as saying on Friday.
Ten students will be chosen to receive the Australian scholarship for 2010-2011 academic year, the report said.
Australia is also providing scholarships to students in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, Germany and European countries.
The scholarships will cover journalism, mass communications, public relations, accounting and finance, international business management and marketing, logistics management, e-business and e- commerce, construction management and property, and hospitality and tourism, the report said.
In November last year, an Australian college announced offering 10,000 Australian dollars' scholarships to Myanmar students for their pursuit of further study at the Raffles College of Design and Commerce in Sidney.
Those scholarships-2010 were restricted to students who passed the matriculation examination, GCE 'O' level and IELTS exam at 6. 0, and the college was set to open this month.
In February last year, two universities from Australia -- Central Queensland University and Jame Cook University, along with other 20 international schools, participated in a Myanmar-hosted international education fair in Lashio, Shan state.
*************************************************************
People's Daily Online - Myanmar to hold Barons Cup 2010 horse racing event
17:21, February 12, 2010
The Baron's Cup 2010 horse racing event, co-organized by the Myanmar Equestrian Federation (MEF) and Myanmar Brewery Ltd, will be held this month to boost the country's equestrian sport, according to the MEF Friday.
The tournament is to take place on Feb. 27 at the field located in Myanmar Equestrian Federation, the sources said.
A total of 36 horses form Yangon, Ayeyawaddy, Pakukku, Bagan and Nyaung Oo will take part in the tournament.
Besides, Myanmar has planned to participate in Southeast Asian horse racing championship, the date of which is yet to be confirmed.
MEF, which was founded in 1991, has grabbed 15 medals -- five golds, five silvers and five bronzes -- from the international competitions since 1998.
Source: Xinhua
17:21, February 12, 2010
The Baron's Cup 2010 horse racing event, co-organized by the Myanmar Equestrian Federation (MEF) and Myanmar Brewery Ltd, will be held this month to boost the country's equestrian sport, according to the MEF Friday.
The tournament is to take place on Feb. 27 at the field located in Myanmar Equestrian Federation, the sources said.
A total of 36 horses form Yangon, Ayeyawaddy, Pakukku, Bagan and Nyaung Oo will take part in the tournament.
Besides, Myanmar has planned to participate in Southeast Asian horse racing championship, the date of which is yet to be confirmed.
MEF, which was founded in 1991, has grabbed 15 medals -- five golds, five silvers and five bronzes -- from the international competitions since 1998.
Source: Xinhua
*************************************************************
Inner City Press - As Myanmar Torches Karen Villages, Who If Anyone At UN Is Watching Is UNclear, No Nargis Follow Up Alleged
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, February 11 -- On Myanmar, the UN has yet to name a replacement for its previous envoy, Ibrahim Gambari. Amid reports of government soldiers torching villages and targeting medical workers in the Karen minority regions, Inner City Press on February 11 asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky is the UN was aware of these reports, and what it was doing.
"It is possible that the UN is aware," Nesirky said, adding that "I'm personally not aware." He said, "I see if I can find out who inside the Organization is following this and knows something about it." Video here, from Minute 5:49.
When Mr. Gambari was re-assigned to Darfur, Inner City Press exclusively reported (on December 14) and then the UN confirmed (on January 7) that that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar was taking over the Myanmar jurisdiction that had been Gambari's.
Mr. Nesirky was questioned extensive about this, including the still unanswered question by Inner City Press of how Gambari was compensated by the UN once the Iraq related portion of his take home pay was eliminated. (There is a similarly unanswered question outstanding from Inner City Press about how Ban's other advisor Robert Orr is paid.)
So, one would expect Mr. Nambiar to be identified as the person ostensibly following Myanmar and reports of torching of Karen villages. Inner City Press also asked about reports of the government increasingly denying and delaying visa for humanitarian workers trying to get to the regions impacted by Cyclone Nargis.
Mr. Ban made statements about saving people there. One would expect follow through, particularly by his chief of staff, at least on the Nargis humanitarian issues. But even the Tripartite Core Group, which includes representative from the Than Shwe military government, is painting a bleak view.
So where is the UN? Watch this site.
Footnote: the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, is headed to the country again, after a November postponement that UN spokesman Nesirky has said he will look into and explain.
Will Quintana raise the Karen issues, and visit that region? On previous trips, he's acknowledged to Inner City Press, he traveled about the country with military helicopters and escorts. Perhaps if this continues, one wag speculated, they'll let him meet Aung San Suu Kyi.
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, February 11 -- On Myanmar, the UN has yet to name a replacement for its previous envoy, Ibrahim Gambari. Amid reports of government soldiers torching villages and targeting medical workers in the Karen minority regions, Inner City Press on February 11 asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky is the UN was aware of these reports, and what it was doing.
"It is possible that the UN is aware," Nesirky said, adding that "I'm personally not aware." He said, "I see if I can find out who inside the Organization is following this and knows something about it." Video here, from Minute 5:49.
When Mr. Gambari was re-assigned to Darfur, Inner City Press exclusively reported (on December 14) and then the UN confirmed (on January 7) that that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar was taking over the Myanmar jurisdiction that had been Gambari's.
Mr. Nesirky was questioned extensive about this, including the still unanswered question by Inner City Press of how Gambari was compensated by the UN once the Iraq related portion of his take home pay was eliminated. (There is a similarly unanswered question outstanding from Inner City Press about how Ban's other advisor Robert Orr is paid.)
So, one would expect Mr. Nambiar to be identified as the person ostensibly following Myanmar and reports of torching of Karen villages. Inner City Press also asked about reports of the government increasingly denying and delaying visa for humanitarian workers trying to get to the regions impacted by Cyclone Nargis.
Mr. Ban made statements about saving people there. One would expect follow through, particularly by his chief of staff, at least on the Nargis humanitarian issues. But even the Tripartite Core Group, which includes representative from the Than Shwe military government, is painting a bleak view.
So where is the UN? Watch this site.
Footnote: the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, is headed to the country again, after a November postponement that UN spokesman Nesirky has said he will look into and explain.
Will Quintana raise the Karen issues, and visit that region? On previous trips, he's acknowledged to Inner City Press, he traveled about the country with military helicopters and escorts. Perhaps if this continues, one wag speculated, they'll let him meet Aung San Suu Kyi.
*************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT: World Bank Faces Tiger Trap in Burma
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Feb 12, 2010 (IPS) - As the World Bank embarks on its latest foray to protect Asian forests that are home to wild tigers, one of the continent’s iconic predators, a visible trap looms in military-ruled Burma.
The challenge for the Bank stems from a need to find a balance between its new interest as a conservationist – through its Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) – and a policy that shackles the Washington DC-based international financial institution from being directly involved, including doling out financial aid, to the South-east Asian nation.
The GTI, which the Bank unveiled in June 2008, has identified a raft of measures to help the 13 Asian countries where the last of the estimated 3,200 wild tigers roam. This includes direct investments to preserve and expand the prevailing habitats of the endangered predator, which numbered about 100,000 a century ago.
The importance of Burma, or Myanmar, as it is also known, in this unique environmental drive is not lost on conservationists. The country is home to the world’s largest tiger reserve among the 13 tiger range nations, which include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
What is more, the Bank’s efforts to tiptoe around the trap of being prevented from working in Burma will be in the spotlight this year due to the world’s first tiger summit to be held in Vladivostok in September. Robert Zoellick, the Bank’s president, is billed to co-chair the summit with the host nation’s prime minister, Vladmir Putin.
"We in the World Bank do not have the mandate to fund projects in Myanmar," admitted Keshav Varma, leader of the GTI. "But we can provide technical assistance through United Nations agencies and other organisations."
In an interview with IPS, Varma also elaborated on other options to help Burma’s tiger population. "I think there are a lot of bilateral possibilities for Myanmar to tap. They can talk to India or other neighbouring governments."
The Bank’s inability to work in Burma goes back to 1987, when the country was classified as having "non-accrual status" for failing to clear arrears in its loans. Until that time, the country had received an estimated 700 million U.S. dollars in development aid since 1956.
Varma’s admission of the Bank’s limits in Burma is echoed by Yuki Akimoto, co-director of the Tokyo-based Burma Information Network-Japan. "The shareholders of the Bank do not support the Bank providing assistance to Burma," said Akimoto. "The United States, which is the largest shareholder and therefore with the largest voting power, is required by law to oppose any assistance from the Bank to Burma."
But under the guise of providing humanitarian assistance, the Bank has in recent years tried to engage with the country.
"Despite the restrictions, the Bank in the past has found ways to provide assistance to Burma for projects or issues that could be spun as ‘humanitarian’ or otherwise relatively non-political," Akimoto, who monitors the work of international financial institutions in Burma, said in an e-mail interview. "Saving wild tigers could be interpreted to be non-political and therefore not problematic, particularly if funds were not channelled directly to the regime."
One organisation hoping for such a broad interpretation is the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has worked with Burmese authorities since the early 1990s to increase the population of the country’s wild tigers and other endangered species.
A crowning moment for the WCS was its ability to get official support to establish the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve (HVTR), the world’s largest such habitat covering some 21,802 square kilometres in the mountainous north-west of the country, close to the Indian border.
"The biggest problem working in a sanctions-hit country like Myanmar is mobilising funds for our programmes," said Colin Poole, director for Asia programmes at WCS, referring to the punitive economic measures imposed on Burma’s junta since the mid-1990s by the U.S. government and the European Union. "We know the World Bank cannot be involved, but there might be other options to consider."
While the WCS is unable to give an accurate estimate of the number of wild tigers in the Hugawng tiger reserve since its work began, it speaks approvingly of the official support it has received for its work inside Burma.
"The Myanmar government has showed a lot of commitment to conserve wildlife," Poole said during a telephone interview from Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital. "The setting up of the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve was not something we requested, but one that came from the country’s forestry department."
Other conservationists are not as convinced. "Although the Myanmar government has indeed created the world’s largest tiger reserve much to the surprise and then applause by the international conservation community at large, in reality the HVTR remains a ‘paper park’," noted Kevin Woods, who has been involved in environmental issues in Burma for nearly a decade. "It is only marked on a map, but in practice little conservation actually proceeds."
As worrying is how the junta has exploited the land for economic activity after the Hugawng reserve was created. "The country’s largest agribusiness concession was granted, gold mining continues by companies at the expense of local miners who have been admonished by the government, and environmental rights abuses against local residents are reported," Woods, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, explained in an e-mail interview.
"For all these reasons, I remain highly sceptical about sincere conservation efforts in Myanmar," he added.
Among the ethnic communities affected by such projects are the Kachins, a minority in Burma who live in the Kachin state, where the Hugawng reserve is located. "There are lots of posters to be seen near the HVTR to help protect the tigers but that may not be enough," says Lahpai Nawdin, editor of the Kachin News Group, based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. "Gold mining has spread, land confiscation is expanding and there is large-scale logging, so the tigers may be extinct in the future."
"INGOs (international non-governmental organisations) working in the HVTR work with the military and not with the local Kachin people," he revealed in a telephone interview. "It is impossible to protect the tigers with that kind of relationship."
The WCS’ Poole admits to the complexities on the ground. "Working there is difficult because of the number of ethnic minorities," he said. "Part of the HVTR is in an area controlled by a Kachin (separatist) group (that has a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government), and part of it near the Indian border where we can’t go to."
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Feb 12, 2010 (IPS) - As the World Bank embarks on its latest foray to protect Asian forests that are home to wild tigers, one of the continent’s iconic predators, a visible trap looms in military-ruled Burma.
The challenge for the Bank stems from a need to find a balance between its new interest as a conservationist – through its Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) – and a policy that shackles the Washington DC-based international financial institution from being directly involved, including doling out financial aid, to the South-east Asian nation.
The GTI, which the Bank unveiled in June 2008, has identified a raft of measures to help the 13 Asian countries where the last of the estimated 3,200 wild tigers roam. This includes direct investments to preserve and expand the prevailing habitats of the endangered predator, which numbered about 100,000 a century ago.
The importance of Burma, or Myanmar, as it is also known, in this unique environmental drive is not lost on conservationists. The country is home to the world’s largest tiger reserve among the 13 tiger range nations, which include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
What is more, the Bank’s efforts to tiptoe around the trap of being prevented from working in Burma will be in the spotlight this year due to the world’s first tiger summit to be held in Vladivostok in September. Robert Zoellick, the Bank’s president, is billed to co-chair the summit with the host nation’s prime minister, Vladmir Putin.
"We in the World Bank do not have the mandate to fund projects in Myanmar," admitted Keshav Varma, leader of the GTI. "But we can provide technical assistance through United Nations agencies and other organisations."
In an interview with IPS, Varma also elaborated on other options to help Burma’s tiger population. "I think there are a lot of bilateral possibilities for Myanmar to tap. They can talk to India or other neighbouring governments."
The Bank’s inability to work in Burma goes back to 1987, when the country was classified as having "non-accrual status" for failing to clear arrears in its loans. Until that time, the country had received an estimated 700 million U.S. dollars in development aid since 1956.
Varma’s admission of the Bank’s limits in Burma is echoed by Yuki Akimoto, co-director of the Tokyo-based Burma Information Network-Japan. "The shareholders of the Bank do not support the Bank providing assistance to Burma," said Akimoto. "The United States, which is the largest shareholder and therefore with the largest voting power, is required by law to oppose any assistance from the Bank to Burma."
But under the guise of providing humanitarian assistance, the Bank has in recent years tried to engage with the country.
"Despite the restrictions, the Bank in the past has found ways to provide assistance to Burma for projects or issues that could be spun as ‘humanitarian’ or otherwise relatively non-political," Akimoto, who monitors the work of international financial institutions in Burma, said in an e-mail interview. "Saving wild tigers could be interpreted to be non-political and therefore not problematic, particularly if funds were not channelled directly to the regime."
One organisation hoping for such a broad interpretation is the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has worked with Burmese authorities since the early 1990s to increase the population of the country’s wild tigers and other endangered species.
A crowning moment for the WCS was its ability to get official support to establish the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve (HVTR), the world’s largest such habitat covering some 21,802 square kilometres in the mountainous north-west of the country, close to the Indian border.
"The biggest problem working in a sanctions-hit country like Myanmar is mobilising funds for our programmes," said Colin Poole, director for Asia programmes at WCS, referring to the punitive economic measures imposed on Burma’s junta since the mid-1990s by the U.S. government and the European Union. "We know the World Bank cannot be involved, but there might be other options to consider."
While the WCS is unable to give an accurate estimate of the number of wild tigers in the Hugawng tiger reserve since its work began, it speaks approvingly of the official support it has received for its work inside Burma.
"The Myanmar government has showed a lot of commitment to conserve wildlife," Poole said during a telephone interview from Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital. "The setting up of the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve was not something we requested, but one that came from the country’s forestry department."
Other conservationists are not as convinced. "Although the Myanmar government has indeed created the world’s largest tiger reserve much to the surprise and then applause by the international conservation community at large, in reality the HVTR remains a ‘paper park’," noted Kevin Woods, who has been involved in environmental issues in Burma for nearly a decade. "It is only marked on a map, but in practice little conservation actually proceeds."
As worrying is how the junta has exploited the land for economic activity after the Hugawng reserve was created. "The country’s largest agribusiness concession was granted, gold mining continues by companies at the expense of local miners who have been admonished by the government, and environmental rights abuses against local residents are reported," Woods, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, explained in an e-mail interview.
"For all these reasons, I remain highly sceptical about sincere conservation efforts in Myanmar," he added.
Among the ethnic communities affected by such projects are the Kachins, a minority in Burma who live in the Kachin state, where the Hugawng reserve is located. "There are lots of posters to be seen near the HVTR to help protect the tigers but that may not be enough," says Lahpai Nawdin, editor of the Kachin News Group, based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. "Gold mining has spread, land confiscation is expanding and there is large-scale logging, so the tigers may be extinct in the future."
"INGOs (international non-governmental organisations) working in the HVTR work with the military and not with the local Kachin people," he revealed in a telephone interview. "It is impossible to protect the tigers with that kind of relationship."
The WCS’ Poole admits to the complexities on the ground. "Working there is difficult because of the number of ethnic minorities," he said. "Part of the HVTR is in an area controlled by a Kachin (separatist) group (that has a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government), and part of it near the Indian border where we can’t go to."
*************************************************************
The Nation - PTT prepares for Yadana shutdown
Published on Fri, February 12, 2010
PTT is asking the operators of all natural gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand to pump up gas at their full capacity late March, when Yadana gas field in Burma will be shut down for two weeks.
The shutdown, for the installation of gas pipeline and equipment, will result in the missing of 1,000 million cubic feet per day.
Permsak Shevawattananon, senior executive vice president of PTT, said that to cope with the shortage, the western gas pipeline's capacity will be kept at maximum level to satisfy demand in the industrial and transportation sectors.
PTT will also increase oil inventories for power generating, while the gas separation plants in Rayong will shut down for maintenance which would reduce the natural gas demand.
Permsak noted that PTT has worked closely with the Energy Ministry and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and is confident that the measures would ensure no negative impacts on the manufacturing, power generating, and transportation sectors.
Published on Fri, February 12, 2010
PTT is asking the operators of all natural gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand to pump up gas at their full capacity late March, when Yadana gas field in Burma will be shut down for two weeks.
The shutdown, for the installation of gas pipeline and equipment, will result in the missing of 1,000 million cubic feet per day.
Permsak Shevawattananon, senior executive vice president of PTT, said that to cope with the shortage, the western gas pipeline's capacity will be kept at maximum level to satisfy demand in the industrial and transportation sectors.
PTT will also increase oil inventories for power generating, while the gas separation plants in Rayong will shut down for maintenance which would reduce the natural gas demand.
Permsak noted that PTT has worked closely with the Energy Ministry and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and is confident that the measures would ensure no negative impacts on the manufacturing, power generating, and transportation sectors.
*************************************************************
The Nation - Opinion: World must not be misled by Burma's sham elections
By NAW ZIPPORAH SEIN
KHU OO REH
SPECIAL TO THE NATION
Published on February 13, 2010
THIS WEEK in 1947, our ethnic leaders signed the historic Panglong Agreement, which envisioned a free Burma in which our people could live together in peace. Within a year, Burma gained its independence from the British. Yet, half a century later, Burma is still not free. Successive military regimes have, over the past 50 years, attempted to achieve "unity", not through dialogue, but with the barrel of a gun. This year, while preparing for the 2010 elections, the junta is trying to achieve a sham democracy through force.
There are those in the international community who believe the elections will provide an opportunity for change. Even if there was the chance for "free and fair" elections, the regime has guaranteed its hold on power through its self-crafted 2008 constitution. The constitution, to be enacted through the elections, will create a new parliament with a civilian facade, while entrenching the current structure where the non-elected commander-in-chief is the most powerful person in the country. Any hope for change is made impossible with the military's approval needed for constitutional amendments.
Most critically, the constitution and elections will provide no respite from suffering for our people. While preparing for the first elections in 20 years, the junta has shown no desire to resolve conflicts through peaceful means. Instead, it is taking extreme measures to destroy the opposition - adding to the more than 2,100 political leaders and activists already in prison and stepping up attacks to wrest power from ethnic armed and unarmed groups. The new constitution will only further systemise this discrimination against ethnic people.
These elections, the last step in the military's sham "roadmap to democracy", are the biggest threat yet to the vision of Panglong. People may ask, why can't we go along with the regime's plan and participate in these elections? This is because they deny the things we have been fighting for all these years - equality and federalism.
In the half century of military rule, it is our people who have paid the highest price. This is why we cannot accept a false democracy that legitimises the military's control and subjugation of the Burmese people. Since independence, our myriad ethnic groups - which make up over 40 per cent of Burma's population - have never enjoyed political or economic equality with the majority. Since the first military coup in 1962, the junta has systematically implemented a policy of "Burmanisation", inundating our culture with the mainstream Burmese culture, and tightly restricting the freedom to teach our languages in schools and practice our traditions.
As leaders of Burma's ethnic resistance, we have seen the devastating consequences of the regime's tactics against our people. Now, it is only hastening efforts to wipe out any remaining resistance prior to the 2010 elections. Just last year, military offensives in eastern Burma forced more than 43,800 ethnic people to flee the country, just the latest wave of refugees streaming over Burma's borders. Some of these attacks were part and parcel of the regime's ongoing policy of targeting ethnic civilians in order to undermine its opposition. The junta's tactic, often referred to as "draining the ocean so the fish cannot swim", has destroyed more than 3,500 villages in eastern Burma in the last 10 years.
The regime has also increased hostility against ethnic ceasefire groups, to further consolidate control before the elections. It wants to force them to join a new Border Guard Force under the command of the SPDC army. Its strategy? A continuation of its divide-and-rule policy, which mobilises proxy ethnic forces to help the military regime attack and commit crimes against their own ethnic people.
Already, preparations for the elections have only served to aggravate the explosive situation in Burma and the racist constitution will only foment further chaos. Much like the 1983 apartheid constitution of South Africa, the Burmese constitution aims to legitimise majority rule through the token participation of ethnic people in a new parliament. Like its apartheid South African counterpart, Burma's new constitution deprives ethnic people of fundamental rights, and makes it virtually impossible for them to have any real political representation. Instead of recognising our demands for equality and federalism, the regime is trying to cement its control over ethnic areas, to guarantee its continued profit from the rich natural resources in these areas. And by providing the regime blanket immunity for past war crimes and crimes against humanity, the constitution sanctions the continuation of these atrocities.
As leaders of the ethnic resistance movement, we know that this election is not a solution to the crises faced by our people. More than ever, we are working closely together with our pro-democracy brothers and sisters on the path to true national reconciliation. We believe that to even begin to hope for democratic progress, three essential benchmarks must be met:
l The release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who still commands deep respect and admiration from ethnic groups;
l The cessation of attacks against ethnic communities; and
l Dialogue with all stakeholders, including a review of the 2008 constitution.
These demands are in line with Suu Kyi, the NLD and other pro-democratic forces inside and in exile and were echoed by the UN General Assembly in a Christmas Eve resolution.
If the regime refuses to meet these benchmarks, we need world leaders to take their efforts one step further, as they did when South Africa held its apartheid elections in 1984. Back then, the UN Security Council rallied to the cause of black South Africans, by declaring its racist constitution "null and void", and calling on governments not to recognise the result of the elections.
South Africa's road to freedom was a long and tortuous one, but a people's movement, supported by the world, was able to bring the racist regime to an end. Our struggle for equality and freedom in Burma has been long, but we are more united than ever before. Instead of calling for "free and fair" elections, which simply buys into the regime's plan, the international community should call on the junta to meet the benchmarks, and if they do not, denounce the elections and not recognise the results.
By NAW ZIPPORAH SEIN
KHU OO REH
SPECIAL TO THE NATION
Published on February 13, 2010
THIS WEEK in 1947, our ethnic leaders signed the historic Panglong Agreement, which envisioned a free Burma in which our people could live together in peace. Within a year, Burma gained its independence from the British. Yet, half a century later, Burma is still not free. Successive military regimes have, over the past 50 years, attempted to achieve "unity", not through dialogue, but with the barrel of a gun. This year, while preparing for the 2010 elections, the junta is trying to achieve a sham democracy through force.
There are those in the international community who believe the elections will provide an opportunity for change. Even if there was the chance for "free and fair" elections, the regime has guaranteed its hold on power through its self-crafted 2008 constitution. The constitution, to be enacted through the elections, will create a new parliament with a civilian facade, while entrenching the current structure where the non-elected commander-in-chief is the most powerful person in the country. Any hope for change is made impossible with the military's approval needed for constitutional amendments.
Most critically, the constitution and elections will provide no respite from suffering for our people. While preparing for the first elections in 20 years, the junta has shown no desire to resolve conflicts through peaceful means. Instead, it is taking extreme measures to destroy the opposition - adding to the more than 2,100 political leaders and activists already in prison and stepping up attacks to wrest power from ethnic armed and unarmed groups. The new constitution will only further systemise this discrimination against ethnic people.
These elections, the last step in the military's sham "roadmap to democracy", are the biggest threat yet to the vision of Panglong. People may ask, why can't we go along with the regime's plan and participate in these elections? This is because they deny the things we have been fighting for all these years - equality and federalism.
In the half century of military rule, it is our people who have paid the highest price. This is why we cannot accept a false democracy that legitimises the military's control and subjugation of the Burmese people. Since independence, our myriad ethnic groups - which make up over 40 per cent of Burma's population - have never enjoyed political or economic equality with the majority. Since the first military coup in 1962, the junta has systematically implemented a policy of "Burmanisation", inundating our culture with the mainstream Burmese culture, and tightly restricting the freedom to teach our languages in schools and practice our traditions.
As leaders of Burma's ethnic resistance, we have seen the devastating consequences of the regime's tactics against our people. Now, it is only hastening efforts to wipe out any remaining resistance prior to the 2010 elections. Just last year, military offensives in eastern Burma forced more than 43,800 ethnic people to flee the country, just the latest wave of refugees streaming over Burma's borders. Some of these attacks were part and parcel of the regime's ongoing policy of targeting ethnic civilians in order to undermine its opposition. The junta's tactic, often referred to as "draining the ocean so the fish cannot swim", has destroyed more than 3,500 villages in eastern Burma in the last 10 years.
The regime has also increased hostility against ethnic ceasefire groups, to further consolidate control before the elections. It wants to force them to join a new Border Guard Force under the command of the SPDC army. Its strategy? A continuation of its divide-and-rule policy, which mobilises proxy ethnic forces to help the military regime attack and commit crimes against their own ethnic people.
Already, preparations for the elections have only served to aggravate the explosive situation in Burma and the racist constitution will only foment further chaos. Much like the 1983 apartheid constitution of South Africa, the Burmese constitution aims to legitimise majority rule through the token participation of ethnic people in a new parliament. Like its apartheid South African counterpart, Burma's new constitution deprives ethnic people of fundamental rights, and makes it virtually impossible for them to have any real political representation. Instead of recognising our demands for equality and federalism, the regime is trying to cement its control over ethnic areas, to guarantee its continued profit from the rich natural resources in these areas. And by providing the regime blanket immunity for past war crimes and crimes against humanity, the constitution sanctions the continuation of these atrocities.
As leaders of the ethnic resistance movement, we know that this election is not a solution to the crises faced by our people. More than ever, we are working closely together with our pro-democracy brothers and sisters on the path to true national reconciliation. We believe that to even begin to hope for democratic progress, three essential benchmarks must be met:
l The release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who still commands deep respect and admiration from ethnic groups;
l The cessation of attacks against ethnic communities; and
l Dialogue with all stakeholders, including a review of the 2008 constitution.
These demands are in line with Suu Kyi, the NLD and other pro-democratic forces inside and in exile and were echoed by the UN General Assembly in a Christmas Eve resolution.
If the regime refuses to meet these benchmarks, we need world leaders to take their efforts one step further, as they did when South Africa held its apartheid elections in 1984. Back then, the UN Security Council rallied to the cause of black South Africans, by declaring its racist constitution "null and void", and calling on governments not to recognise the result of the elections.
South Africa's road to freedom was a long and tortuous one, but a people's movement, supported by the world, was able to bring the racist regime to an end. Our struggle for equality and freedom in Burma has been long, but we are more united than ever before. Instead of calling for "free and fair" elections, which simply buys into the regime's plan, the international community should call on the junta to meet the benchmarks, and if they do not, denounce the elections and not recognise the results.
*************************************************************
Army sets ablaze Karen villages, 1,000 villagers flee
Friday, 12 February 2010 21:33 Salai Han Thar San
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The Burmese Army set on fire around 70 houses in two Karen villages in Bago division forcing over 1,000 villagers to flee, according to armed ethnic organization Karen National Union (KNU).
Between February 7 and 9, two villages were burnt down by Burmese soldiers in Kyauk Kyi Township, Nyaung Lei Pin district in Bago Division and villagers fled to the jungle in search of shelter.
"Over 1,000 villagers fled to the jungle. It happened because they did not toe the junta’s line. The Burmese army burnt the houses as they hate the ethnic Karens," David Tharkabaw, KNU vice-president alleged.
The Burmese Army's Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #363 - regiment 10 and (LIB) #30 - regiment 9 are based in Kyauk Kyi.
This incident occurred after news spread in the area that the Burmese Army would launch an operation called Ye Yan Aung on the KNU brigade #3 based in Kyauk Kyi Township.
The Karen National Union (KNU) is opposed to the Burmese military regime's 2008 constitution and is determined to oppose the 2010 elections.
Major Saw Hla Ngwe, in-charge of News and Information of KNU, said "it is just like taking citizens as hostages and forcing us to submit ourselves to their authority."
"Last month, two villagers were killed and a woman was raped by Burmese soldiers and 12 houses and a school was burnt down," he said.
One of Burma’s state-run newspapers, The Mirror, today alleged that four KNU insurgents from brigade #7 kidnapped four officials of the land record department and demanded Kyat fifty lakhs (USD 45,000) in a village in Hlaignbwe Township, Karen state.
"The Burmese army has accused us of many false cases. We don’t collect tax. They are making various allegations because we are opposed to their proposed 2010 election and 2008 constitution," the KNU vice-president said.
There are about 4,000 refugees currently taking shelter in seven refugee camps in Tak Province, Thailand along the border with Burma after they fled abuse following joint military offensives by the DKBA and Burmese Army against the KNU forces in Pha-an district in June last year.
Though several human rights and social organizations had appealed to the Thai government not to deport refugees because their lives were at stake in the area where they are going to be sent back, some refugees including children and women of three families from Noe Boe Refugee Camp in Tak Provice, Thailand were deported to Burma.
The Karen ethnic armed groups, both DKBA and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) made it clear through the media that they will not take any responsibility for landmine explosions.
The KNLA is the military wing of the KNU. The DKBA broke away from the KNU in 1994 and has a ceasefire with the junta.
The KNU was founded in 1948 for political settlement and wants a federal Burma.
Friday, 12 February 2010 21:33 Salai Han Thar San
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The Burmese Army set on fire around 70 houses in two Karen villages in Bago division forcing over 1,000 villagers to flee, according to armed ethnic organization Karen National Union (KNU).
Between February 7 and 9, two villages were burnt down by Burmese soldiers in Kyauk Kyi Township, Nyaung Lei Pin district in Bago Division and villagers fled to the jungle in search of shelter.
"Over 1,000 villagers fled to the jungle. It happened because they did not toe the junta’s line. The Burmese army burnt the houses as they hate the ethnic Karens," David Tharkabaw, KNU vice-president alleged.
The Burmese Army's Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #363 - regiment 10 and (LIB) #30 - regiment 9 are based in Kyauk Kyi.
This incident occurred after news spread in the area that the Burmese Army would launch an operation called Ye Yan Aung on the KNU brigade #3 based in Kyauk Kyi Township.
The Karen National Union (KNU) is opposed to the Burmese military regime's 2008 constitution and is determined to oppose the 2010 elections.
Major Saw Hla Ngwe, in-charge of News and Information of KNU, said "it is just like taking citizens as hostages and forcing us to submit ourselves to their authority."
"Last month, two villagers were killed and a woman was raped by Burmese soldiers and 12 houses and a school was burnt down," he said.
One of Burma’s state-run newspapers, The Mirror, today alleged that four KNU insurgents from brigade #7 kidnapped four officials of the land record department and demanded Kyat fifty lakhs (USD 45,000) in a village in Hlaignbwe Township, Karen state.
"The Burmese army has accused us of many false cases. We don’t collect tax. They are making various allegations because we are opposed to their proposed 2010 election and 2008 constitution," the KNU vice-president said.
There are about 4,000 refugees currently taking shelter in seven refugee camps in Tak Province, Thailand along the border with Burma after they fled abuse following joint military offensives by the DKBA and Burmese Army against the KNU forces in Pha-an district in June last year.
Though several human rights and social organizations had appealed to the Thai government not to deport refugees because their lives were at stake in the area where they are going to be sent back, some refugees including children and women of three families from Noe Boe Refugee Camp in Tak Provice, Thailand were deported to Burma.
The Karen ethnic armed groups, both DKBA and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) made it clear through the media that they will not take any responsibility for landmine explosions.
The KNLA is the military wing of the KNU. The DKBA broke away from the KNU in 1994 and has a ceasefire with the junta.
The KNU was founded in 1948 for political settlement and wants a federal Burma.
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The Irrawaddy - NLD Prepares for Expansion of Party Leadership
By BA KAUNG - Friday, February 12, 2010
Senior representatives of Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) have begun to arrive in Rangoon from all over the country to participate in next week's expansion of the party's leadership.
Candidates have already been selected by secret ballot at state and division level—with the exception of Shan State and Sagaing Division— and their names have been forwarded to the party headquarters in Rangoon, according to NLD spokesman Khin Maung Swe.
Khin Maung Swe said the list will be discussed by members of the NLD's central executive committee (CEC) and the state and divisional representatives at meetings on Feb. 16 and 17, and about 90 members will be endorsed for the reconstituted central committee. The committee was abolished by the regime in 1991.
In December 2009, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced that she wanted a reorganization of the party's aging leadership. The following month, the CEC chose nine new members—all in their 60s and 70s—expanding its total membership to 20.
At next week's meeting, seven central committee members will be selected from each big state or division, such as Rangoon and Mandalay, and five from small states such as Mon State.
Last month, the CEC sent a list of instructions to party leaders in various states and divisions for the nomination of candidates for the central committee. According to the instructions, a qualified candidate must share the views of party's policies, must not be someone who is currently suspended for violations of party regulations and must also be able to carry out the party's activities.
The process of selecting candidates for the central committee has come in for criticism from some members. “The CEC is just dictating who should be nominated,” said Myint Myint Aye, a party organizer from Meiktila township in Upper Burma.
Khin Maung Swe conceded there are some discrepancies in the selection process at the local levels, and that some members do not accept the decision of their regional representatives.
Another party official, Ohn Kyaing, said the expansion of the party leadership was unrelated to the upcoming election and was being carried out at the suggestion of Suu Kyi.
Although Suu Kyi and the NLD have not yet decided whether to participate in the 2010 election, a growing number of party officials are voicing support for the planned poll, according to party sources.
Suu Kyi told her lawyer on Tuesday that “this is not the time to make the decision,” and that the election would be lacking in substance without freedom of information and expression.
By BA KAUNG - Friday, February 12, 2010
Senior representatives of Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) have begun to arrive in Rangoon from all over the country to participate in next week's expansion of the party's leadership.
Candidates have already been selected by secret ballot at state and division level—with the exception of Shan State and Sagaing Division— and their names have been forwarded to the party headquarters in Rangoon, according to NLD spokesman Khin Maung Swe.
Khin Maung Swe said the list will be discussed by members of the NLD's central executive committee (CEC) and the state and divisional representatives at meetings on Feb. 16 and 17, and about 90 members will be endorsed for the reconstituted central committee. The committee was abolished by the regime in 1991.
In December 2009, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced that she wanted a reorganization of the party's aging leadership. The following month, the CEC chose nine new members—all in their 60s and 70s—expanding its total membership to 20.
At next week's meeting, seven central committee members will be selected from each big state or division, such as Rangoon and Mandalay, and five from small states such as Mon State.
Last month, the CEC sent a list of instructions to party leaders in various states and divisions for the nomination of candidates for the central committee. According to the instructions, a qualified candidate must share the views of party's policies, must not be someone who is currently suspended for violations of party regulations and must also be able to carry out the party's activities.
The process of selecting candidates for the central committee has come in for criticism from some members. “The CEC is just dictating who should be nominated,” said Myint Myint Aye, a party organizer from Meiktila township in Upper Burma.
Khin Maung Swe conceded there are some discrepancies in the selection process at the local levels, and that some members do not accept the decision of their regional representatives.
Another party official, Ohn Kyaing, said the expansion of the party leadership was unrelated to the upcoming election and was being carried out at the suggestion of Suu Kyi.
Although Suu Kyi and the NLD have not yet decided whether to participate in the 2010 election, a growing number of party officials are voicing support for the planned poll, according to party sources.
Suu Kyi told her lawyer on Tuesday that “this is not the time to make the decision,” and that the election would be lacking in substance without freedom of information and expression.
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The Irrawaddy - American Prisoner to be Discussed in US-Burma Dialogue
By LALIT K. JHA - Friday, February 12, 2010
WASHINGTON — A US official said on Thursday it will discuss the issue of sentencing Nyi Nyi Aung, a US citizen, by a Burmese court with the military junta in the dialogue process between the two countries.
“As we indicated in our statement, we regret the action taken by Burma. And this will be a subject that will be a part of our ongoing dialogue with Burma,” Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P. J. Crowley told reporters at a news briefing.
“We want to see the human rights situation in Burma improve—advancing the rule of law, advancing transparency, in terms of these kinds of cases,” he said in response to a question.
“This reinforces that this will be part of our ongoing discussion with Burma in the coming weeks,” Crowley said.
On Wednesday, the State Department had called Nyi Nyi Aung's sentencing by a Rangoon court unjustified, and in separate statements two top US lawmakers had said that the case could hinder the ongoing dialogue with junta.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jim Webb, who is known for his pro-dialogue stance, in a statement said he noted with concern the judgment by the Burmese court. Webb serves as chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
“In coordination with the US State Department, we will continue to monitor both the length of his incarceration and the treatment he receives while in prison,” Webb said.
“The circumstances of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's [his legal US passport name] arrest, confinement and trial demonstrate clearly the need for more consistent high-level engagement between our two governments. It is strongly in the national interest of the United States to continue to promote a democratic transition in Burma,” he said.
Nyi Nyi Aung lives in Maryland and is an active advocate for human rights in Burma.
He was arrested at a Burmese airport in September 2009 when he arrived in Rangoon to see his mother, a democracy activist who is in prison and suffering from cancer. He was accused of trying to foment political unrest, but later convicted of carrying false identification and undeclared US currency, as well as failing to renounce his Burmese nationality upon becoming a US citizen in 2002.
By LALIT K. JHA - Friday, February 12, 2010
WASHINGTON — A US official said on Thursday it will discuss the issue of sentencing Nyi Nyi Aung, a US citizen, by a Burmese court with the military junta in the dialogue process between the two countries.
“As we indicated in our statement, we regret the action taken by Burma. And this will be a subject that will be a part of our ongoing dialogue with Burma,” Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P. J. Crowley told reporters at a news briefing.
“We want to see the human rights situation in Burma improve—advancing the rule of law, advancing transparency, in terms of these kinds of cases,” he said in response to a question.
“This reinforces that this will be part of our ongoing discussion with Burma in the coming weeks,” Crowley said.
On Wednesday, the State Department had called Nyi Nyi Aung's sentencing by a Rangoon court unjustified, and in separate statements two top US lawmakers had said that the case could hinder the ongoing dialogue with junta.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jim Webb, who is known for his pro-dialogue stance, in a statement said he noted with concern the judgment by the Burmese court. Webb serves as chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
“In coordination with the US State Department, we will continue to monitor both the length of his incarceration and the treatment he receives while in prison,” Webb said.
“The circumstances of Kyaw Zaw Lwin's [his legal US passport name] arrest, confinement and trial demonstrate clearly the need for more consistent high-level engagement between our two governments. It is strongly in the national interest of the United States to continue to promote a democratic transition in Burma,” he said.
Nyi Nyi Aung lives in Maryland and is an active advocate for human rights in Burma.
He was arrested at a Burmese airport in September 2009 when he arrived in Rangoon to see his mother, a democracy activist who is in prison and suffering from cancer. He was accused of trying to foment political unrest, but later convicted of carrying false identification and undeclared US currency, as well as failing to renounce his Burmese nationality upon becoming a US citizen in 2002.
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ILO to begin Burma child soldier campaign
Feb 12, 2010 (DVB)–The International Labour Organisation will begin circulating leaflets on forced labour and child solider recruitment across Burma, but not before it is passed through the regime’s notorious censor board.
Burma is thought to have one of the world’s highest counts of child soldiers, and the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) is the only body officially mandated to tackle the problem in the pariah state.
Steve Marshall, ILO liaison officer in Rangoon, said that a draft of the leaflet had been submitted to the government’s labour ministry for approval.
The campaign, he said, was raised during talks in Burma last month between ILO executive director Kari Tapiola and labour minister Aung Kyi.
The talks also resulted in an extension of the ‘supplementary understanding’ between the government and the ILO, which acts as an agreement that the Burmese junta will not avenge those who complain to the ILO about forced labour and child solider recruitment.
“There will need to be an extensive printing of these [leaflets] in various languages, with a wide distribution,” said Marshall.
Many complaints of forced labour and child solider recruitment come from Burma’s border regions where the army has been fighting decades-long conflicts with various armed ethnic groups.
“The first print run will clearly be in Myanmar [Burmese] language, but it would be silly not to produce it in the major ethnic languages,” he said, but added that the translation would take more time.
The ILO has struggled since the first supplementary understanding was signed in February 2007 to curb the recruitment of child soldiers and use of forced labour, which includes land disputes, by the Burmese government.
It has also expressed “serious concern” about the jailing of labour activists and forced labour complainants.
A landmark Human Rights Watch report in 2002 found that an estimated 70,000 child soldiers made up around 20 percent of the Burmese army. Another report last year by the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict claimed that children as young as nine were serving in the military.
Reporting by Nay Htoo
Feb 12, 2010 (DVB)–The International Labour Organisation will begin circulating leaflets on forced labour and child solider recruitment across Burma, but not before it is passed through the regime’s notorious censor board.
Burma is thought to have one of the world’s highest counts of child soldiers, and the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) is the only body officially mandated to tackle the problem in the pariah state.
Steve Marshall, ILO liaison officer in Rangoon, said that a draft of the leaflet had been submitted to the government’s labour ministry for approval.
The campaign, he said, was raised during talks in Burma last month between ILO executive director Kari Tapiola and labour minister Aung Kyi.
The talks also resulted in an extension of the ‘supplementary understanding’ between the government and the ILO, which acts as an agreement that the Burmese junta will not avenge those who complain to the ILO about forced labour and child solider recruitment.
“There will need to be an extensive printing of these [leaflets] in various languages, with a wide distribution,” said Marshall.
Many complaints of forced labour and child solider recruitment come from Burma’s border regions where the army has been fighting decades-long conflicts with various armed ethnic groups.
“The first print run will clearly be in Myanmar [Burmese] language, but it would be silly not to produce it in the major ethnic languages,” he said, but added that the translation would take more time.
The ILO has struggled since the first supplementary understanding was signed in February 2007 to curb the recruitment of child soldiers and use of forced labour, which includes land disputes, by the Burmese government.
It has also expressed “serious concern” about the jailing of labour activists and forced labour complainants.
A landmark Human Rights Watch report in 2002 found that an estimated 70,000 child soldiers made up around 20 percent of the Burmese army. Another report last year by the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict claimed that children as young as nine were serving in the military.
Reporting by Nay Htoo
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