India's Tata Motors invests in Myanmar
Mon Mar 22, 6:48 am ET
MUMBAI (AFP) – India's largest vehicle maker Tata Motors said on Monday it signed a contract with Myanmar Automobile and Diesel Industries to set up a heavy truck plant in the military-ruled country.
The new plant would be set up at Magwe, nearly 480 kilometres (300 miles) from Yangon, and will be operational in the last quarter of the financial year ending March 2011, it said in a statement.
Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, is under economic sanctions by the United States and Europe because of its human rights record and long-running detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened as neighbours such as China, India and Thailand invest billions of dollars, particularly in its oil and gas industry.
Tata Motors, which owns the formerly British brands Jaguar and LandRover, said the plant would have a capacity of 1,000 vehicles per year, which could be expanded to 5,000 vehicles.
No financial details were given, but the plant will be funded by a line of credit from the government of India.
Myanmar's military government held talks with an Indian delegation on March 1 in its remote capital Naypyidaw.
Mon Mar 22, 6:48 am ET
MUMBAI (AFP) – India's largest vehicle maker Tata Motors said on Monday it signed a contract with Myanmar Automobile and Diesel Industries to set up a heavy truck plant in the military-ruled country.
The new plant would be set up at Magwe, nearly 480 kilometres (300 miles) from Yangon, and will be operational in the last quarter of the financial year ending March 2011, it said in a statement.
Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, is under economic sanctions by the United States and Europe because of its human rights record and long-running detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened as neighbours such as China, India and Thailand invest billions of dollars, particularly in its oil and gas industry.
Tata Motors, which owns the formerly British brands Jaguar and LandRover, said the plant would have a capacity of 1,000 vehicles per year, which could be expanded to 5,000 vehicles.
No financial details were given, but the plant will be funded by a line of credit from the government of India.
Myanmar's military government held talks with an Indian delegation on March 1 in its remote capital Naypyidaw.
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Back in US, freed activist presses Myanmar on rights
by Shaun Tandon – Sat Mar 20, 11:50 am ET
DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Virginia (AFP) – A US activist freed by Myanmar expressed his determination Saturday to fight for the release of thousands of political prisoners held by the regime, as he returned home.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin, 40, a Myanmar-born rights activist who holds US citizenship, was reunited with his fiance before telling journalists about his ordeal.
He spoke of the "mental torture" he had suffered in the six months since his arrest, during which he said he was kept mostly in a solitary, insect-infested cell.
A small crowd of fellow Washington area residents originally from Myanmar cheered him and offered congratulatory balloons as he walked off his commercial flight Friday with a State Department escort.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who was thin and suffers leg pains but spoke lucidly, immediately embraced his fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, a nurse also born in Myanmar who had lobbied the US government to take up his case.
"I am really happy to meet my fiancee... but my family and all my friends stay in prison, so I feel not really happy," said Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by the name Nyi Nyi Aung.
"I learned from people how much they really want to get freedom," he said. "They are really trying hard, but the regime is so terrible.
"I have a lot of responsibility to do more for a free Burma," he added, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he had traveled to Myanmar to visit his mother, who is herself detained for political activities and is suffering from cancer. But he never got to see her.
He was arrested on September 3 and said he was deprived of food and water during his first two weeks of detention. The treatment later improved, but only slightly.
"The prison is physically fine, but mentally they torture," he said, recalling he stayed in a dark room with a vile stench.
"There were a lot of insects. In the nighttime you couldn't sleep -- the dog is barking. All day long you have to stay in that cell."
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he would seek a medical assessment on his leg, which gives him pain after the solitary confinement.
He was sentenced to three years in prison in February on charges of forging an identity card, failing to declare currency at customs and violating immigration law for not formally renouncing his earlier nationality.
Following his sentence, his supporters criticised US President Barack Obama's administration.
They said it had failed to take up Kyaw Zaw Lwin's case as the US pursued a new policy of dialogue with the junta aimed at ending its isolation.
His fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal Asia, saying she felt "betrayed" by her adopted country for not doing enough in this human rights case.
On Friday however, the couple went out of their way to thank the administration.
Wa Wa Kyaw said she was "very happy" with the State Department and that she had been in contact with Kurt Campbell and Scot Marciel, top US officials handling Asian affairs.
The regime released Kyaw Zaw Lwin as it comes under intensifying international criticism ahead of elections it plans later this year.
The United States has warned that the election will be a "mockery" of democracy as the regime plans to disqualify pro-democracy forces. Rights groups say the regime holds more than 2,000 political prisoners.
Myanmar's last elections in 1990 were swept by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. But the junta never allowed her to take over and has kept her under house arrest for most of the time since.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he was given no reason for his release and that only Myanmar's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, knew for sure.
"He doesn't understand what he's doing," he said.
"If he understood the message of the people of Burma and the message from the international community, Burma would change because it's easy to have a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic leaders."
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he had not yet decided how active to be in the democracy movement -- but had no plans to return to Myanmar anytime soon.
Tin Thu, a physician and family friend who came to welcome him, said she was surprised Kyaw Zaw Lwin had taken the risk of returning to their native country.
"We didn't even know he had gone back," she said. "Once we knew, all of us were scared."
by Shaun Tandon – Sat Mar 20, 11:50 am ET
DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Virginia (AFP) – A US activist freed by Myanmar expressed his determination Saturday to fight for the release of thousands of political prisoners held by the regime, as he returned home.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin, 40, a Myanmar-born rights activist who holds US citizenship, was reunited with his fiance before telling journalists about his ordeal.
He spoke of the "mental torture" he had suffered in the six months since his arrest, during which he said he was kept mostly in a solitary, insect-infested cell.
A small crowd of fellow Washington area residents originally from Myanmar cheered him and offered congratulatory balloons as he walked off his commercial flight Friday with a State Department escort.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who was thin and suffers leg pains but spoke lucidly, immediately embraced his fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, a nurse also born in Myanmar who had lobbied the US government to take up his case.
"I am really happy to meet my fiancee... but my family and all my friends stay in prison, so I feel not really happy," said Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who also goes by the name Nyi Nyi Aung.
"I learned from people how much they really want to get freedom," he said. "They are really trying hard, but the regime is so terrible.
"I have a lot of responsibility to do more for a free Burma," he added, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he had traveled to Myanmar to visit his mother, who is herself detained for political activities and is suffering from cancer. But he never got to see her.
He was arrested on September 3 and said he was deprived of food and water during his first two weeks of detention. The treatment later improved, but only slightly.
"The prison is physically fine, but mentally they torture," he said, recalling he stayed in a dark room with a vile stench.
"There were a lot of insects. In the nighttime you couldn't sleep -- the dog is barking. All day long you have to stay in that cell."
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he would seek a medical assessment on his leg, which gives him pain after the solitary confinement.
He was sentenced to three years in prison in February on charges of forging an identity card, failing to declare currency at customs and violating immigration law for not formally renouncing his earlier nationality.
Following his sentence, his supporters criticised US President Barack Obama's administration.
They said it had failed to take up Kyaw Zaw Lwin's case as the US pursued a new policy of dialogue with the junta aimed at ending its isolation.
His fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal Asia, saying she felt "betrayed" by her adopted country for not doing enough in this human rights case.
On Friday however, the couple went out of their way to thank the administration.
Wa Wa Kyaw said she was "very happy" with the State Department and that she had been in contact with Kurt Campbell and Scot Marciel, top US officials handling Asian affairs.
The regime released Kyaw Zaw Lwin as it comes under intensifying international criticism ahead of elections it plans later this year.
The United States has warned that the election will be a "mockery" of democracy as the regime plans to disqualify pro-democracy forces. Rights groups say the regime holds more than 2,000 political prisoners.
Myanmar's last elections in 1990 were swept by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. But the junta never allowed her to take over and has kept her under house arrest for most of the time since.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he was given no reason for his release and that only Myanmar's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, knew for sure.
"He doesn't understand what he's doing," he said.
"If he understood the message of the people of Burma and the message from the international community, Burma would change because it's easy to have a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic leaders."
Kyaw Zaw Lwin said he had not yet decided how active to be in the democracy movement -- but had no plans to return to Myanmar anytime soon.
Tin Thu, a physician and family friend who came to welcome him, said she was surprised Kyaw Zaw Lwin had taken the risk of returning to their native country.
"We didn't even know he had gone back," she said. "Once we knew, all of us were scared."
***********************************************************
Myanmar rebels warn of election clashes
Published: March. 22, 2010 at 6:18 AM
BANGKOK, March 22 (UPI) -- A Myanmar ethnic rebel group warned the ruling military that clashes are inevitable in the run-up to a national election this year.
The head of the Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army, joined the call by opposition groups to boycott the election, although no Election Day has been set.
Zipporah Sein, head of the KNU, said ethnic minorities shouldn't vote because Myanmar's 2008 constitution doesn't recognize ethnic diversity.
She said the KNLA would fight any attempt by the ruling generals to force local people to either join or form border guard militia that have been set up by the generals in some remote areas.
"They then adopt regime-style policies and tactics toward the local population, committing the same atrocities as the army, such as forced displacement, rape, killing and more," she said.
Sein made her warning during a news conference in Bangkok. She was sitting alongside leaders of other ethnic groups and Myanmar democracy advocates including U Thein Oo, a member of the National League for Democracy political party that operates within Myanmar.
They called on the international community tot not recognize any Myanmar election and for the regime to release all political prisoners, including the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi is leader of the National League for Democracy but she remains under house arrest in Yangon, formerly called Rangoon.
Opposition leaders denounced the junta's recent election rules that exclude people with criminal pasts. Opposition groups say this is a ploy to exclude democracy advocates who have been languishing in jail as political prisoners, such as Suu Kyi, according to a report in the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine, which is staffed by many Myanmar exiles.
The electoral laws should serve as "a wake-up call" for people who believed that by calling an election the ruling generals were serious about democracy, said U Thein Oo. He won a seat in the last general election in Myanmar, formerly called Burma. But the results of the 1990 poll were never accepted by the junta, which has maintained power since.
"With more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma, many activists and politicians will be excluded, though some queries were raised as to whether the law prevents former prisoners from remaining in a political party. We are not clear on that," he said.
Despite the apparent unified front of opposition groups in Bangkok, the KNU's Sein said there won't likely be a similar unified approach within Myanmar.
The KNLA, as have dozens of other ethnic minority rebel groups, has been fighting a central government, some since the 1960s, demanding regional autonomy and a rolling back of what they see as an aggressive and heavy-handed police and military presence.
For nearly 20 years the generals have been sitting down with various rebel groups to hammer out cease-fire agreements, with some going over to the generals.
Last month a reporter with Irrawaddy visited a KNLA encampment high in the remote forested hills near the Thailand-Myanmar border. On a nearby hill was an encampment of the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army that separated from the KNLA in 1994. Soon after breaking away, it signed a cease-fire with the generals and members of the DKBA have been fighting against the KNLA.
Media reports this week also noted a possible split within Suu Kyi's NLD over whether it should register to take part in the election. By contesting in the election, some senior members said, the party would default on its longstanding demand that the general recognize the 1990 poll, which the NLD won by a landslide.
Published: March. 22, 2010 at 6:18 AM
BANGKOK, March 22 (UPI) -- A Myanmar ethnic rebel group warned the ruling military that clashes are inevitable in the run-up to a national election this year.
The head of the Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army, joined the call by opposition groups to boycott the election, although no Election Day has been set.
Zipporah Sein, head of the KNU, said ethnic minorities shouldn't vote because Myanmar's 2008 constitution doesn't recognize ethnic diversity.
She said the KNLA would fight any attempt by the ruling generals to force local people to either join or form border guard militia that have been set up by the generals in some remote areas.
"They then adopt regime-style policies and tactics toward the local population, committing the same atrocities as the army, such as forced displacement, rape, killing and more," she said.
Sein made her warning during a news conference in Bangkok. She was sitting alongside leaders of other ethnic groups and Myanmar democracy advocates including U Thein Oo, a member of the National League for Democracy political party that operates within Myanmar.
They called on the international community tot not recognize any Myanmar election and for the regime to release all political prisoners, including the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi is leader of the National League for Democracy but she remains under house arrest in Yangon, formerly called Rangoon.
Opposition leaders denounced the junta's recent election rules that exclude people with criminal pasts. Opposition groups say this is a ploy to exclude democracy advocates who have been languishing in jail as political prisoners, such as Suu Kyi, according to a report in the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine, which is staffed by many Myanmar exiles.
The electoral laws should serve as "a wake-up call" for people who believed that by calling an election the ruling generals were serious about democracy, said U Thein Oo. He won a seat in the last general election in Myanmar, formerly called Burma. But the results of the 1990 poll were never accepted by the junta, which has maintained power since.
"With more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma, many activists and politicians will be excluded, though some queries were raised as to whether the law prevents former prisoners from remaining in a political party. We are not clear on that," he said.
Despite the apparent unified front of opposition groups in Bangkok, the KNU's Sein said there won't likely be a similar unified approach within Myanmar.
The KNLA, as have dozens of other ethnic minority rebel groups, has been fighting a central government, some since the 1960s, demanding regional autonomy and a rolling back of what they see as an aggressive and heavy-handed police and military presence.
For nearly 20 years the generals have been sitting down with various rebel groups to hammer out cease-fire agreements, with some going over to the generals.
Last month a reporter with Irrawaddy visited a KNLA encampment high in the remote forested hills near the Thailand-Myanmar border. On a nearby hill was an encampment of the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army that separated from the KNLA in 1994. Soon after breaking away, it signed a cease-fire with the generals and members of the DKBA have been fighting against the KNLA.
Media reports this week also noted a possible split within Suu Kyi's NLD over whether it should register to take part in the election. By contesting in the election, some senior members said, the party would default on its longstanding demand that the general recognize the 1990 poll, which the NLD won by a landslide.
***********************************************************
Web censorship expanding in some countries
Published: March. 21, 2010 at 6:25 PM
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 21 (UPI) -- Censorship in China, Iran and Saudi Arabia and other countries threatens the growth of social networking companies like Facebook
and Twitter, experts say.
The San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News said Google's dispute with China's government, which could lead to a shutdown of Goggle in China, exemplifies the impact of censorship of foreign companies by authoritarian governments.
These countries are relying on new technology to filter or block access to Internet sites they deem dangerous. That could mean difficulty for Silicon Valley companies that provide news and information in China and other countries, the Mercury News said.
"The control over information is a very high priority for the Communist Party. You combine that with its industrial policy that favors Chinese companies and it's a very difficult challenge," said Susan Shirk, a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration responsible for U.S. relations with China. "I don't know if it's hopeless (for these companies). But I think it's becoming increasingly difficult."
Valley companies look to China, with 384 million Internet users, and other developing countries as potentially rich growth markets.
Twitter said last week it would offer a Chinese version of the service but the site's being blocked by the government, sharply limiting access. China also blocks Facebook and YouTube.
"YouTube is one of the most blocked services in the world and it's often because people put videos up there that have political content," said John Palfrey, a Harvard University law professor who studies limits on Internet expression worldwide.
Only Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea block almost all connections to the global Web. But Palfrey said the number of countries imposing some censorship or blocking has grown from two eight years ago to about three dozen now.
Published: March. 21, 2010 at 6:25 PM
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 21 (UPI) -- Censorship in China, Iran and Saudi Arabia and other countries threatens the growth of social networking companies like Facebook
and Twitter, experts say.
The San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News said Google's dispute with China's government, which could lead to a shutdown of Goggle in China, exemplifies the impact of censorship of foreign companies by authoritarian governments.
These countries are relying on new technology to filter or block access to Internet sites they deem dangerous. That could mean difficulty for Silicon Valley companies that provide news and information in China and other countries, the Mercury News said.
"The control over information is a very high priority for the Communist Party. You combine that with its industrial policy that favors Chinese companies and it's a very difficult challenge," said Susan Shirk, a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration responsible for U.S. relations with China. "I don't know if it's hopeless (for these companies). But I think it's becoming increasingly difficult."
Valley companies look to China, with 384 million Internet users, and other developing countries as potentially rich growth markets.
Twitter said last week it would offer a Chinese version of the service but the site's being blocked by the government, sharply limiting access. China also blocks Facebook and YouTube.
"YouTube is one of the most blocked services in the world and it's often because people put videos up there that have political content," said John Palfrey, a Harvard University law professor who studies limits on Internet expression worldwide.
Only Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea block almost all connections to the global Web. But Palfrey said the number of countries imposing some censorship or blocking has grown from two eight years ago to about three dozen now.
***********************************************************
IANS
Sify News - Myanmar proposes re-drawing sea border with Bangladesh
2010-03-22 14:20:00
Myanmar has proposed drawing up of a new line to demarcate the maritime boundary with Bangladesh which is currently in talks with its western neighbour India on the sea border issue.
Bangladesh insists on the principle of 'equity and equidistance' with its neighbours and has lodged complaints at the UN against both the countries.
The new line on the map proposed by Myanmar should be near the 'Friendship line' that is an imaginary line down to St Martins Island in the northeast part of the Bay of Bengal.
Myanmar proposed the formula last week at the two-day bilateral negotiation held in Nay Pyi Taw, the new capital, New Age newspaper said.
It quoted an unnamed Bangladesh government official as saying: 'Bangladesh will now weigh the new proposal of Myanmar.'
He said the two countries would continue maintaining a balance between the principles of equity and equidistance to resolve the dispute of maritime boundary demarcation.
All three nations are keen to join the race for exploration of hydrocarbons.
Bangladesh has problems with India and Myanmar on the 'starting point' on how to demarcate the boundary of the exclusive economic zones that apparently overlapped claims of the three countries because of the funnel-like shape of the Bay of Bengal.
Additional foreign secretary M. Khurshid Alam led the Bangladesh delegation to expert-level talks on maritime boundary March 17-18.
Sify News - Myanmar proposes re-drawing sea border with Bangladesh
2010-03-22 14:20:00
Myanmar has proposed drawing up of a new line to demarcate the maritime boundary with Bangladesh which is currently in talks with its western neighbour India on the sea border issue.
Bangladesh insists on the principle of 'equity and equidistance' with its neighbours and has lodged complaints at the UN against both the countries.
The new line on the map proposed by Myanmar should be near the 'Friendship line' that is an imaginary line down to St Martins Island in the northeast part of the Bay of Bengal.
Myanmar proposed the formula last week at the two-day bilateral negotiation held in Nay Pyi Taw, the new capital, New Age newspaper said.
It quoted an unnamed Bangladesh government official as saying: 'Bangladesh will now weigh the new proposal of Myanmar.'
He said the two countries would continue maintaining a balance between the principles of equity and equidistance to resolve the dispute of maritime boundary demarcation.
All three nations are keen to join the race for exploration of hydrocarbons.
Bangladesh has problems with India and Myanmar on the 'starting point' on how to demarcate the boundary of the exclusive economic zones that apparently overlapped claims of the three countries because of the funnel-like shape of the Bay of Bengal.
Additional foreign secretary M. Khurshid Alam led the Bangladesh delegation to expert-level talks on maritime boundary March 17-18.
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March 22, 2010 15:28 PM
South Korea To Help Myanmar Build Automobile Training Center
YANGON, March 22 (Bernama) -- The (South) Korea's International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will help Myanmar build an automobile- related training center this year to upgrade the country's automobile production technology to the international standard, the local weekly Flower News reported Monday.
The (South) Korea-Myanmar Friendship Automobile Training Center will be constructed in cooperation with the Myanmar Ministry of Industry-2 and the cost, valued at US$3 million, will be provided by the agency, the report said, adding that installation of the whole automobile body parts will be trained by the (South) Korean experts.
KOICA has been providing training to Myanmar government staff in information and technology (IT), industrial and forestry sectors.
The KOICA has stationed in Myanmar since 1991 providing the technical expertise and equipment needed for social service organisations as well as training in related fields.
South Korea To Help Myanmar Build Automobile Training Center
YANGON, March 22 (Bernama) -- The (South) Korea's International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will help Myanmar build an automobile- related training center this year to upgrade the country's automobile production technology to the international standard, the local weekly Flower News reported Monday.
The (South) Korea-Myanmar Friendship Automobile Training Center will be constructed in cooperation with the Myanmar Ministry of Industry-2 and the cost, valued at US$3 million, will be provided by the agency, the report said, adding that installation of the whole automobile body parts will be trained by the (South) Korean experts.
KOICA has been providing training to Myanmar government staff in information and technology (IT), industrial and forestry sectors.
The KOICA has stationed in Myanmar since 1991 providing the technical expertise and equipment needed for social service organisations as well as training in related fields.
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Press Trust of India - Myanmar state media blames rebels for mine blast
STAFF WRITER 17:15 HRS IST
Yangon, Mar 20 (AFP) Myanmar's junta-run state media today blamed ethnic insurgents for an explosion that killed two people and wounded another 11 when their bus hit a mine in the country's east.
The blast took place last Sunday in Karen State, around 200 kilometres from economic hub Yangon, where an ethnic rebel group has been fighting the junta for more than five decades.
"The incident occurred when the bus... hit the mine planted by Kayin (Karen) insurgents," the English-language New Light of Myanmar reported.
"Officials concerned are providing assistance for the victims," it added.
It is the third time since December that the junta has blamed the Karen National Union (KNU) for a blast in the eastern state.
STAFF WRITER 17:15 HRS IST
Yangon, Mar 20 (AFP) Myanmar's junta-run state media today blamed ethnic insurgents for an explosion that killed two people and wounded another 11 when their bus hit a mine in the country's east.
The blast took place last Sunday in Karen State, around 200 kilometres from economic hub Yangon, where an ethnic rebel group has been fighting the junta for more than five decades.
"The incident occurred when the bus... hit the mine planted by Kayin (Karen) insurgents," the English-language New Light of Myanmar reported.
"Officials concerned are providing assistance for the victims," it added.
It is the third time since December that the junta has blamed the Karen National Union (KNU) for a blast in the eastern state.
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Myanmar says new influenza A/H1N1 still strikes 8 townships
English.news.cn 2010-03-20 19:45:21
YANGON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar health authorities said on Saturday that new influenza A/H1N1 is still striking the country's eight townships in five divisions and states with 36 people of flu-like symptoms still being hospitalized so far during this month.
"There has been still the case of the pandemic in Dagon Myothit- South and Bahan townships in Yangon division, Chanmyathazi township in Mandalay division, Kyaukme, Hsipaw and Nawnghkio townships in Shan state-North, Monywa township in Sagaing division and Magway township in Magway division," said the Health Ministry.
"Two of them were discharged and the others are in health care but no one is dead," the ministry revealed.
The ministry added that it is taking preventive measures against the pandemic.
According to a compiled statistical report, a total of 126 people were infected with the new influenza A/H1N1 in Myanmar as of February this year since the outbreak of the disease in the country in June last year.
Of the flu patients, 109 have been discharged from hospitals, an earlier report quoted the Yangon division administration as saying.
In February, the pandemic struck Chin state's Tiddim township, Shan state's Kyaukme and Yangon division's six townships of Bahan, Tamway, Dagon Myothit (north and east), Shwepyita, Hlaingtharya and Hmawby.
Myanmar reported the first case of new flu A/H1N1 in the country on June 27 last year with a 13-year-old girl who developed the symptoms after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.
English.news.cn 2010-03-20 19:45:21
YANGON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar health authorities said on Saturday that new influenza A/H1N1 is still striking the country's eight townships in five divisions and states with 36 people of flu-like symptoms still being hospitalized so far during this month.
"There has been still the case of the pandemic in Dagon Myothit- South and Bahan townships in Yangon division, Chanmyathazi township in Mandalay division, Kyaukme, Hsipaw and Nawnghkio townships in Shan state-North, Monywa township in Sagaing division and Magway township in Magway division," said the Health Ministry.
"Two of them were discharged and the others are in health care but no one is dead," the ministry revealed.
The ministry added that it is taking preventive measures against the pandemic.
According to a compiled statistical report, a total of 126 people were infected with the new influenza A/H1N1 in Myanmar as of February this year since the outbreak of the disease in the country in June last year.
Of the flu patients, 109 have been discharged from hospitals, an earlier report quoted the Yangon division administration as saying.
In February, the pandemic struck Chin state's Tiddim township, Shan state's Kyaukme and Yangon division's six townships of Bahan, Tamway, Dagon Myothit (north and east), Shwepyita, Hlaingtharya and Hmawby.
Myanmar reported the first case of new flu A/H1N1 in the country on June 27 last year with a 13-year-old girl who developed the symptoms after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.
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Strategy Page - Myanmar:We Can Do This
March 20, 2010: The military government will allow elections this year, but the new election laws allow the new elections commission to control who runs, and how. The military government controls who will be in the elections commission, so the generals apparently plan to control the election process to put their own people into office. As blatant as this is, it wins the points in the international PR battle between the dictators and democracy backers. Things like this make it more difficult for opponents to, for example, get the UN to go after the generals for war crimes. The military dictatorship in Myanmar has been very clever, and successful, in dealing with pressure from foreign nations and international organizations like the UN. The promised (two years ago, after many years of diplomatic and media pressure) elections will probably not weaken the dictatorship, but will likely be carried out in such a way that the generals can argue that they kept their promise.
The army is apparently going to let new, elected, rulers, take charge. But these new men will be beholden to the military for economic support and, in an emergency, muscle (with or without guns). The generals are selling off state assets, and putting the money into special military accounts, for politicians in need of campaign funds to get elected, or re-elected. The generals now acknowledge that Burma cannot survive in isolation. The international economy has been booming for decades, and Burma has fallen well behind. Time to catch up. That doesn't work very well unless you allow a certain amount of freedom. China showed the way, even though China has no intention to allow elections. But Burma comes from a democratic background (at least in the early decades of independence.) Plus, the generals think they can pull this off.
More troops are being moved into the tribal areas, especially along the Chinese border, to help insure that the elections, no matter how bogus they might be, will go off without incident.
After buying 20 MiG-29s from Russia, the government is now buying two An-148 commercial aircraft (which normally carry up to 90 passengers) for VIP transports. The bad behavior of the generals has led to several embargos over the years, but Russia and China will sell Burma whatever it wants. Russia, and especially China, will also block the UN from applying any really damaging sanctions. In response, China gets lots of Burmese natural gas, at a good price. Similar shipments to Thailand, encourages the Thais to send Burmese tribal refugees back, and crack down on the use of refugee camps in Thailand for rebel bases.
India has been more circumspect, being a democracy, in supplying weapons to Burma. But India has invested over a billion dollars in natural gas production alone, and this will increase enormously if the generals can pull off their "shift to democracy" (with the generals still pulling the strings). India justifies military sales to Burma largely because of cooperation in keeping Indian tribal rebels out of Burma. Currently, Indian and Burmese troops are cooperating in searching for the Indian rebels on either side of the border. This sort of thing causes India to look the other way as the Burmese abuse (murder, rape, prostitution, slave labor) their own tribal rebels (particularly the Karen.) India needs the good relations with Burma, because the Indian tribal rebels (over a dozen different groups) sustain a drug and weapons smuggling network into India. This smuggling is more of a concern to India, than to Burma.
The generals may have to stop buying weapons from North Korea during this political shift. The North Koreans are too unpopular, and under too many export restrictions. It's not safe to trade with North Korea and expect to remain undetected.
Many of the tribal and ethnic minorities in the east and north are threatening to resume fighting the government, in the face of an election that will be a sham. There is also fear that growing revenue from natural gas exports (to India, China and Thailand) and growing heroin production (done in cooperation with former rebel groups that have made peace, and expect to be rewarded), makes the government strong enough to finally crush all the tribal rebels. The government denies any involvement in the revived heroin trade, but travelers in Shan State, along the Chinese border, note the reappearance of poppy crops.
March 13, 2010: The Shan State Army (an ethnic Chinese group) claim they killed twenty soldiers in a battle near where the Chinese, Burmese and Thai borders meet.
February 25, 2010: In response to the earlier killings, police raided a drug smuggler camp on the Thai border. Weapons, ammunition and raw materials for methamphetamine were seized. Apparently, several dozen gangsters were living in the camp, but all were elsewhere, or fled at the approach of the large force of police.
February 20, 2010: Thirteen police and local militia were killed in a battle with drug traffickers, on the Mekong river near the Thai border. The smuggling gangs are large and heavily armed, and prefer to bribe or intimidate border security personnel. If that fails, the gangsters will shoot to kill.
March 20, 2010: The military government will allow elections this year, but the new election laws allow the new elections commission to control who runs, and how. The military government controls who will be in the elections commission, so the generals apparently plan to control the election process to put their own people into office. As blatant as this is, it wins the points in the international PR battle between the dictators and democracy backers. Things like this make it more difficult for opponents to, for example, get the UN to go after the generals for war crimes. The military dictatorship in Myanmar has been very clever, and successful, in dealing with pressure from foreign nations and international organizations like the UN. The promised (two years ago, after many years of diplomatic and media pressure) elections will probably not weaken the dictatorship, but will likely be carried out in such a way that the generals can argue that they kept their promise.
The army is apparently going to let new, elected, rulers, take charge. But these new men will be beholden to the military for economic support and, in an emergency, muscle (with or without guns). The generals are selling off state assets, and putting the money into special military accounts, for politicians in need of campaign funds to get elected, or re-elected. The generals now acknowledge that Burma cannot survive in isolation. The international economy has been booming for decades, and Burma has fallen well behind. Time to catch up. That doesn't work very well unless you allow a certain amount of freedom. China showed the way, even though China has no intention to allow elections. But Burma comes from a democratic background (at least in the early decades of independence.) Plus, the generals think they can pull this off.
More troops are being moved into the tribal areas, especially along the Chinese border, to help insure that the elections, no matter how bogus they might be, will go off without incident.
After buying 20 MiG-29s from Russia, the government is now buying two An-148 commercial aircraft (which normally carry up to 90 passengers) for VIP transports. The bad behavior of the generals has led to several embargos over the years, but Russia and China will sell Burma whatever it wants. Russia, and especially China, will also block the UN from applying any really damaging sanctions. In response, China gets lots of Burmese natural gas, at a good price. Similar shipments to Thailand, encourages the Thais to send Burmese tribal refugees back, and crack down on the use of refugee camps in Thailand for rebel bases.
India has been more circumspect, being a democracy, in supplying weapons to Burma. But India has invested over a billion dollars in natural gas production alone, and this will increase enormously if the generals can pull off their "shift to democracy" (with the generals still pulling the strings). India justifies military sales to Burma largely because of cooperation in keeping Indian tribal rebels out of Burma. Currently, Indian and Burmese troops are cooperating in searching for the Indian rebels on either side of the border. This sort of thing causes India to look the other way as the Burmese abuse (murder, rape, prostitution, slave labor) their own tribal rebels (particularly the Karen.) India needs the good relations with Burma, because the Indian tribal rebels (over a dozen different groups) sustain a drug and weapons smuggling network into India. This smuggling is more of a concern to India, than to Burma.
The generals may have to stop buying weapons from North Korea during this political shift. The North Koreans are too unpopular, and under too many export restrictions. It's not safe to trade with North Korea and expect to remain undetected.
Many of the tribal and ethnic minorities in the east and north are threatening to resume fighting the government, in the face of an election that will be a sham. There is also fear that growing revenue from natural gas exports (to India, China and Thailand) and growing heroin production (done in cooperation with former rebel groups that have made peace, and expect to be rewarded), makes the government strong enough to finally crush all the tribal rebels. The government denies any involvement in the revived heroin trade, but travelers in Shan State, along the Chinese border, note the reappearance of poppy crops.
March 13, 2010: The Shan State Army (an ethnic Chinese group) claim they killed twenty soldiers in a battle near where the Chinese, Burmese and Thai borders meet.
February 25, 2010: In response to the earlier killings, police raided a drug smuggler camp on the Thai border. Weapons, ammunition and raw materials for methamphetamine were seized. Apparently, several dozen gangsters were living in the camp, but all were elsewhere, or fled at the approach of the large force of police.
February 20, 2010: Thirteen police and local militia were killed in a battle with drug traffickers, on the Mekong river near the Thai border. The smuggling gangs are large and heavily armed, and prefer to bribe or intimidate border security personnel. If that fails, the gangsters will shoot to kill.
***********************************************************
Last updated: March 21, 2010 1:42 p.m.
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Police, 911 tongue-tied in Burmese community
Holly Abrams, The Journal Gazette
Dawn McGahen doesn’t remember taking calls from Burmese-speaking people when she was hired as a Fort Wayne police dispatcher in 1995. Dispatchers now take dozens of these calls each year.
As the number of Burmese refugees in the city has grown, so has the need for Burmese-speaking police officers and dispatchers. But the department has no officers who speak Burmese, and all dispatchers speak only English.
The police department says finding qualified bilingual candidates is a challenge. Officers and dispatchers resort to what they say are the best alternatives.
McGahen, now the training coordinator for Fort Wayne communications, recognizes the challenges faced by callers and dispatchers when there is a language barrier. She, along with Rick Piatt, a local volunteer in the Burmese community, are working to develop a lesson plan to teach local Burmese refugees some basic questions asked by police and dispatchers and how to answer them.
"More education needs to be done (within the community)," she said.
Piatt, who lives in Whitley County, drives to Fort Wayne twice a week to teach a group of Burmese-speaking adults. His work is through The Reclamation Project, a local organization with a goal to bridge the gap between refugees and the predominantly English-speaking community they live in. Fort Wayne has an estimated 5,400 to 5,800 Burmese refugees, according to figures kept by Catholic Charities. And that number keeps growing each year as more refugees are brought to the city and other refugees relocate to Fort Wayne to be with their families.
These refugees make up about 2 percent of the city’s population. According to enrollment records kept by Fort Wayne Community Schools, nearly 4,000 of its 31,500 enrolled students speak a language other than English at home or have a language besides English as their native language.
Trying process
Piatt retired in 2004 as a construction manager for the city, where he was an immigrant liaison. Piatt would often be sent to explain to different communities, including the Bosnian, Vietnamese, African and Hispanic cultures, how construction processes work.
"Even the common citizen has trouble going through the government gantlet, and it’s that much more complicated with the language barriers," said Piatt, who has worked with the project since 2009.
That trouble includes making a 911 call.
Piatt’s current class consists of eight adults from Myanmar, formerly Burma. They meet at a student’s home and play out real-life scenarios in an effort to bridge the language gap many refugees experience.
Piatt hopes to make progress over the next year as he plays out police and fire-related scenarios with the group of adults he is teaching. The group just finished a unit on describing people.
He explained how descriptions are critical to police when there is a missing child or when someone is the victim of a crime.
"It’s a total immersion (teaching) so it gets them away from that crutch that everybody likes – an interpreter," Piatt said.
Piatt uses visuals as he teaches. But he never speaks Burmese. He said speaking English is the best way to teach a new language and develop conversation skills. It’s a trying process, and after an hour-long session his students are tired. But it’s worth it, he said.
Myo Myint is a Burmese refugee who also teaches English through The Reclamation Project. He tells his classes the importance of learning English – something he said he taught himself during a 15-year prison sentence for speaking out in favor of democracy in his native country.
"This is very important for the Burmese people who live here, because they do not know some of the rules and regulations of the United States," said Myo Myint, who was granted a U.S. visa in 2008.
Myo Myint has also translated a list of concerns the police department has for distribution to the Burmese community.
Among those top concerns: learning that police are good; traffic safety; and that children must be supervised.
Local volunteers
When police officers encounter a language barrier on the street, they call for an officer who speaks that language, according to officer Raquel Foster, police spokeswoman, who also speaks Spanish.
"We always hope that the victim will have someone help to translate," she said.
In addition to several officers who speak Spanish, the department has officers fluent in sign language, Japanese, French and German.
Another option is for police to use a list of local volunteer interpreters, according to McGahen. Burmese-speaking interpreters are among the 33 on the list. Some of those listed also interpret in the local courts system, McGahen said. The Fort Wayne Police Department’s Victim Assistance maintains a similar list.
Police will try to find a neighbor, family member or friend of a crime victim to provide interpretation at the scene, Foster said. Area advocacy centers and churches might also be used to find interpreters.
Perception of police
Even with the progress in education, Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York said crimes are often unreported among those who do not speak English.
"In the Hispanic community – to a larger degree in the Burmese community – crime is underreported because of their perception of law enforcement from their native country," he said. "A lot of times those police departments weren’t that professional and sometimes corrupt. With some cultures there is a reluctance to interact with police."
York said he has seen vast improvement in police interactions with the city’s Hispanic communities, in part because of the addition of a Hispanic liaison officer. Officer Ricardo Robles, a 31-year member of the force who speaks Spanish, has been in this position since 2002.
"We see a huge need in the Burmese community," Robles said, adding it’s nearly impossible to have a bilingual officer on the force for every language spoken in the city.
The challenge is finding qualified bilingual officer candidates who speak Burmese and are U.S. citizens. While being bilingual is a benefit to police work, that ability alone cannot place someone on the force, York said.
"It’s very difficult, especially in the Burmese community, to find candidates, the younger people, … who are eligible because of citizenship issues," he said. "It’s a very comprehensive process and a demanding process, and we lose people at every step."
York said he recalls at least one Burmese candidate who applied to be a police officer but did not make it through the interview process.
‘Costly service’
In the meantime, on the dispatching end, an interpreter is used to complete a call.
"We can usually tell what language they (callers) speak," she said.
Spanish is second to English among calls received by dispatchers, according to department records. Burmese-speaking callers come in a close third.
In 2009, dispatchers used Language Line Services more than 100 times to interpret calls made by Spanish-speaking people. The same service was used more than 70 times for Burmese-speaking callers, according to 911 communications records.
Cell phone calls that require an interpreter are paid for by the Indiana Wireless E911 Advisory Board. According to records kept by the board’s call processing vendor, INdigital Telecom, based in Fort Wayne, no calls have been logged from cell phone callers to police in Fort Wayne or Allen County that needed an interpreter service.
"It’s a costly service but it’s well worth it," said Susan Rarey, operations manager for Fort Wayne communications.
In 2009, calls for interpreter services cost the city more than $3,600.
There are ways these costs could be reduced, but it will take time and education. Myo Myint said he would like to see more police officers learn to speak some Burmese words. This would also help smooth the interactions his native people have with law enforcement, he said.
"I made up my mind, … whenever I have the chance, I will help the American people," he said. "If I have the chance I want to teach the language to the police."
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Police, 911 tongue-tied in Burmese community
Holly Abrams, The Journal Gazette
Dawn McGahen doesn’t remember taking calls from Burmese-speaking people when she was hired as a Fort Wayne police dispatcher in 1995. Dispatchers now take dozens of these calls each year.
As the number of Burmese refugees in the city has grown, so has the need for Burmese-speaking police officers and dispatchers. But the department has no officers who speak Burmese, and all dispatchers speak only English.
The police department says finding qualified bilingual candidates is a challenge. Officers and dispatchers resort to what they say are the best alternatives.
McGahen, now the training coordinator for Fort Wayne communications, recognizes the challenges faced by callers and dispatchers when there is a language barrier. She, along with Rick Piatt, a local volunteer in the Burmese community, are working to develop a lesson plan to teach local Burmese refugees some basic questions asked by police and dispatchers and how to answer them.
"More education needs to be done (within the community)," she said.
Piatt, who lives in Whitley County, drives to Fort Wayne twice a week to teach a group of Burmese-speaking adults. His work is through The Reclamation Project, a local organization with a goal to bridge the gap between refugees and the predominantly English-speaking community they live in. Fort Wayne has an estimated 5,400 to 5,800 Burmese refugees, according to figures kept by Catholic Charities. And that number keeps growing each year as more refugees are brought to the city and other refugees relocate to Fort Wayne to be with their families.
These refugees make up about 2 percent of the city’s population. According to enrollment records kept by Fort Wayne Community Schools, nearly 4,000 of its 31,500 enrolled students speak a language other than English at home or have a language besides English as their native language.
Trying process
Piatt retired in 2004 as a construction manager for the city, where he was an immigrant liaison. Piatt would often be sent to explain to different communities, including the Bosnian, Vietnamese, African and Hispanic cultures, how construction processes work.
"Even the common citizen has trouble going through the government gantlet, and it’s that much more complicated with the language barriers," said Piatt, who has worked with the project since 2009.
That trouble includes making a 911 call.
Piatt’s current class consists of eight adults from Myanmar, formerly Burma. They meet at a student’s home and play out real-life scenarios in an effort to bridge the language gap many refugees experience.
Piatt hopes to make progress over the next year as he plays out police and fire-related scenarios with the group of adults he is teaching. The group just finished a unit on describing people.
He explained how descriptions are critical to police when there is a missing child or when someone is the victim of a crime.
"It’s a total immersion (teaching) so it gets them away from that crutch that everybody likes – an interpreter," Piatt said.
Piatt uses visuals as he teaches. But he never speaks Burmese. He said speaking English is the best way to teach a new language and develop conversation skills. It’s a trying process, and after an hour-long session his students are tired. But it’s worth it, he said.
Myo Myint is a Burmese refugee who also teaches English through The Reclamation Project. He tells his classes the importance of learning English – something he said he taught himself during a 15-year prison sentence for speaking out in favor of democracy in his native country.
"This is very important for the Burmese people who live here, because they do not know some of the rules and regulations of the United States," said Myo Myint, who was granted a U.S. visa in 2008.
Myo Myint has also translated a list of concerns the police department has for distribution to the Burmese community.
Among those top concerns: learning that police are good; traffic safety; and that children must be supervised.
Local volunteers
When police officers encounter a language barrier on the street, they call for an officer who speaks that language, according to officer Raquel Foster, police spokeswoman, who also speaks Spanish.
"We always hope that the victim will have someone help to translate," she said.
In addition to several officers who speak Spanish, the department has officers fluent in sign language, Japanese, French and German.
Another option is for police to use a list of local volunteer interpreters, according to McGahen. Burmese-speaking interpreters are among the 33 on the list. Some of those listed also interpret in the local courts system, McGahen said. The Fort Wayne Police Department’s Victim Assistance maintains a similar list.
Police will try to find a neighbor, family member or friend of a crime victim to provide interpretation at the scene, Foster said. Area advocacy centers and churches might also be used to find interpreters.
Perception of police
Even with the progress in education, Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York said crimes are often unreported among those who do not speak English.
"In the Hispanic community – to a larger degree in the Burmese community – crime is underreported because of their perception of law enforcement from their native country," he said. "A lot of times those police departments weren’t that professional and sometimes corrupt. With some cultures there is a reluctance to interact with police."
York said he has seen vast improvement in police interactions with the city’s Hispanic communities, in part because of the addition of a Hispanic liaison officer. Officer Ricardo Robles, a 31-year member of the force who speaks Spanish, has been in this position since 2002.
"We see a huge need in the Burmese community," Robles said, adding it’s nearly impossible to have a bilingual officer on the force for every language spoken in the city.
The challenge is finding qualified bilingual officer candidates who speak Burmese and are U.S. citizens. While being bilingual is a benefit to police work, that ability alone cannot place someone on the force, York said.
"It’s very difficult, especially in the Burmese community, to find candidates, the younger people, … who are eligible because of citizenship issues," he said. "It’s a very comprehensive process and a demanding process, and we lose people at every step."
York said he recalls at least one Burmese candidate who applied to be a police officer but did not make it through the interview process.
‘Costly service’
In the meantime, on the dispatching end, an interpreter is used to complete a call.
"We can usually tell what language they (callers) speak," she said.
Spanish is second to English among calls received by dispatchers, according to department records. Burmese-speaking callers come in a close third.
In 2009, dispatchers used Language Line Services more than 100 times to interpret calls made by Spanish-speaking people. The same service was used more than 70 times for Burmese-speaking callers, according to 911 communications records.
Cell phone calls that require an interpreter are paid for by the Indiana Wireless E911 Advisory Board. According to records kept by the board’s call processing vendor, INdigital Telecom, based in Fort Wayne, no calls have been logged from cell phone callers to police in Fort Wayne or Allen County that needed an interpreter service.
"It’s a costly service but it’s well worth it," said Susan Rarey, operations manager for Fort Wayne communications.
In 2009, calls for interpreter services cost the city more than $3,600.
There are ways these costs could be reduced, but it will take time and education. Myo Myint said he would like to see more police officers learn to speak some Burmese words. This would also help smooth the interactions his native people have with law enforcement, he said.
"I made up my mind, … whenever I have the chance, I will help the American people," he said. "If I have the chance I want to teach the language to the police."
***********************************************************
OneNewsNow - Christian genocide in Myanmar continues to be ignored
Mission Network News - 3/22/2010
Myanmar (MNN) ― The Karen people of Burma have been fighting for independence for over 60 years. Far from gaining freedom, though, the Karen people have instead become the victims of massive genocide.
Many of the Karen people are Christians, and it has become apparent that the ethnic cleansing taking place at the hands of the Burmese government is a direct attack against Christians. Patrick Klein of Vision Beyond Borders says once the military has finished off the Christians, they will likely move on to Buddhists.
"We could see, in the next couple of months or a year, a huge genocide of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people slaughtered, because the government wants to present this image that everybody in Burma is supportive of the military government; that is not true," says Klein. "The only ones that support it are the military."
Klein says reports show that over 500,000 have already been killed either as a direct result of military violence or from lack of medical care afterward. 150,000 Burmese refugees wait anxiously in Thailand while another million are stuck at the border of Myanmar and Thailand.
Thailand has not been keen on housing Burmese refugees in the past and has previously attempted to push them all back to Myanmar, where cleansing strategies await. But many refugees simply have nowhere to go after watching their villages go up in flames.
"UN employees reported that over 3,300 villages have been burned to the ground," says Klein. "It's surpassing what happened in Rwanda and Darfur, and yet nobody seems to notice."
Despite the nearly unprecedented conditions, the Word of God continues to permeate through the region. Klein says that even children in the Vision Beyond Borders orphanages pray for the soldiers that killed their families. Klein says the Lord is in fact using this time to draw many away from witchcraft and animism and toward Christ.
"Even in the midst of [so many] horrific things going on, the Gospel is going forth, and many people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ."
Klein is excited that the Gospel is moving forth, but he urges the Christian world to do something for their suffering and ignored brothers and sisters.
"A lot of these Karen people feel like they've been abandoned. They wonder where is the world? Where is the Church that's standing up for them and trying to stop this genocide?"
There are two major things to be done to bring safety to Burmese believers. The first is to pray and ask the Lord to intervene. The second is to start calling senators and representatives to make them aware of the massive genocide going on in Burma. Klein says they are often unaware that anything is taking place, as are most of the people in Burma due to a media block.
Contact your senator or representative today, if only to make them aware of the issue. Click here (http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml) for a list of U.S. representatives to contact, and here (http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm) for U.S. senators.
"The Karen people just want to go back to their villages; they want to serve God in peace; they want to raise their families and provide for their families. Instead, they're living as refugees, a lot of them in Thailand. There's no hope for them as refugees."
Mission Network News - 3/22/2010
Myanmar (MNN) ― The Karen people of Burma have been fighting for independence for over 60 years. Far from gaining freedom, though, the Karen people have instead become the victims of massive genocide.
Many of the Karen people are Christians, and it has become apparent that the ethnic cleansing taking place at the hands of the Burmese government is a direct attack against Christians. Patrick Klein of Vision Beyond Borders says once the military has finished off the Christians, they will likely move on to Buddhists.
"We could see, in the next couple of months or a year, a huge genocide of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people slaughtered, because the government wants to present this image that everybody in Burma is supportive of the military government; that is not true," says Klein. "The only ones that support it are the military."
Klein says reports show that over 500,000 have already been killed either as a direct result of military violence or from lack of medical care afterward. 150,000 Burmese refugees wait anxiously in Thailand while another million are stuck at the border of Myanmar and Thailand.
Thailand has not been keen on housing Burmese refugees in the past and has previously attempted to push them all back to Myanmar, where cleansing strategies await. But many refugees simply have nowhere to go after watching their villages go up in flames.
"UN employees reported that over 3,300 villages have been burned to the ground," says Klein. "It's surpassing what happened in Rwanda and Darfur, and yet nobody seems to notice."
Despite the nearly unprecedented conditions, the Word of God continues to permeate through the region. Klein says that even children in the Vision Beyond Borders orphanages pray for the soldiers that killed their families. Klein says the Lord is in fact using this time to draw many away from witchcraft and animism and toward Christ.
"Even in the midst of [so many] horrific things going on, the Gospel is going forth, and many people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ."
Klein is excited that the Gospel is moving forth, but he urges the Christian world to do something for their suffering and ignored brothers and sisters.
"A lot of these Karen people feel like they've been abandoned. They wonder where is the world? Where is the Church that's standing up for them and trying to stop this genocide?"
There are two major things to be done to bring safety to Burmese believers. The first is to pray and ask the Lord to intervene. The second is to start calling senators and representatives to make them aware of the massive genocide going on in Burma. Klein says they are often unaware that anything is taking place, as are most of the people in Burma due to a media block.
Contact your senator or representative today, if only to make them aware of the issue. Click here (http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml) for a list of U.S. representatives to contact, and here (http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm) for U.S. senators.
"The Karen people just want to go back to their villages; they want to serve God in peace; they want to raise their families and provide for their families. Instead, they're living as refugees, a lot of them in Thailand. There's no hope for them as refugees."
***********************************************************
Updated : 11:53 AM, 03/20/2010
VOV News - Vietnam promotes trade cooperation with Myanmar
Vietnam is making efforts to promote trade cooperation with Myanmar as the country is emerging as a potential import market.
Although Vietnam has exported some products to Myanmar in recent years, its businesses hold a very small market share in comparison with those from other countries. For example, electronics and electrical goods hold only 0.5 percent, garment materials 1.3 percent and steels 1.4 percent.
In addition, Vietnamese businesses have not yet tapped this market for some kinds of products like medicines and medical equipment, tubes and tires, construction materials, pesticides, cosmetics and fertilizers.
In order to boost Vietnam-Myanmar cooperation, the Vietnamese government and relevant ministries and agencies have undertaken measures to help businesses access the Myanmar market.
The Asia-Pacific Market Department and the Trade Promotion Agency have co-organised a Vietnam-Myanmar International Trade Fair attracting 130 representatives from Myanmar companies. The fair has helped businesses to seek trade opportunities and many export contracts have been signed between the two sides.
There have been a series of other activities since the beginning of 2010 including the Vietnam-Myanmar investment seminars held in the cities of Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, Myanmar, the opening of a Bank for Investment Development of Vietnam (BIDV) branch in Myanmar, and the opening of a direct Hanoi-Yangon air route.
Cooperation between the two countries is expected to accelerate in 2010 with an official visit to Myanmar by Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung and a Vietnamese product trade fair to be held in Yangon from April 3-6.
VOV News - Vietnam promotes trade cooperation with Myanmar
Vietnam is making efforts to promote trade cooperation with Myanmar as the country is emerging as a potential import market.
Although Vietnam has exported some products to Myanmar in recent years, its businesses hold a very small market share in comparison with those from other countries. For example, electronics and electrical goods hold only 0.5 percent, garment materials 1.3 percent and steels 1.4 percent.
In addition, Vietnamese businesses have not yet tapped this market for some kinds of products like medicines and medical equipment, tubes and tires, construction materials, pesticides, cosmetics and fertilizers.
In order to boost Vietnam-Myanmar cooperation, the Vietnamese government and relevant ministries and agencies have undertaken measures to help businesses access the Myanmar market.
The Asia-Pacific Market Department and the Trade Promotion Agency have co-organised a Vietnam-Myanmar International Trade Fair attracting 130 representatives from Myanmar companies. The fair has helped businesses to seek trade opportunities and many export contracts have been signed between the two sides.
There have been a series of other activities since the beginning of 2010 including the Vietnam-Myanmar investment seminars held in the cities of Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, Myanmar, the opening of a Bank for Investment Development of Vietnam (BIDV) branch in Myanmar, and the opening of a direct Hanoi-Yangon air route.
Cooperation between the two countries is expected to accelerate in 2010 with an official visit to Myanmar by Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung and a Vietnamese product trade fair to be held in Yangon from April 3-6.
***********************************************************
March 22, 2010
Jakarta Globe - Burma’s New Jungle Capital Reflects Ruling Generals’ View of Democracy
Sebastian Strangio
Burma’s new capital city lies about a 10-hour drive — or a short, white-knuckled flight on an aging Fokker-27 — from Rangoon, the country’s largest city and former capital. A vast, empty plain of snaking arterial roads and low-density development, Naypyidaw is unlikely to experience anything approaching the so-called “Saffron Revolution” that brought Rangoon to a standstill in 2007.
For one thing, there is no obvious city center or public space of any sort. Hotels, residential areas and government buildings are quarantined in designated zones separated by kilometers of six-lane highways, cutting through tracts of jungle. The only visual point of reference — and then only at night — is the golden inverted cone of the Uppatasanti Pagoda, a life-size replica of the hallowed Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon.
As Burma prepares to go to the polls later this year as part of the military government’s much-touted “road map to democracy,” the view from Naypyidaw appears grim. When the country’s ruling generals moved the capital in 2005, some observers saw it as a defensive maneuver, a move into strategic isolation designed to limit the threat of upheaval. Siddharth Varadarajan, a journalist at The Hindu newspaper in India, described Naypyidaw as “the ultimate insurance against regime change, a masterpiece of planning designed to defeat any putative ‘color revolution’ — not by tanks and water cannons, but by geometry and cartography.”
The approach of the elections, which many expect to fall on the auspicious date of Oct. 10 (10-10-2010), has raised some hopes of a democratic opening for the isolated country. One observer said recently that the creation of new legislative bodies, however constrained, will “inadvertently” grant citizens the opportunity to influence decisions.
The signs so far, however, have vindicated the pessimists. Despite reports that election campaigning has already begun in Karen state, the epicenter of a decades-long ethnic Karen insurgency, the rules remain weighted heavily toward the junta. Five election laws promulgated earlier this month stipulate that 110 of the 440 seats in a proposed House of Representatives will be reserved for military representatives and that 56 in the 224-member House of Nationalities will be chosen by the head of the army, Sr. Gen. Than Shwe.
A political party registration law also includes provisions barring democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from participation in the elections — and possibly even from membership in the National League of Democracy, the party she led to a landslide victory in elections in 1990. The laws also ban prisoners from being members of political parties, effectively barring the participation of more than 2,000 people jailed on politically motivated charges, including several senior NLD members.
Other laws state that a five-member Election Commission, appointed by the junta, will have final say over election results, presaging a repeat of the 1990 poll, when the military simply refused to acknowledge the NLD’s victory.
On March 8, US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Washington was “troubled” by the decision to exclude Suu Kyi from the process.
“This is a step in the wrong direction,” Crowley told reporters in Washington. “The political party registration law makes a mockery of the democratic process and ensures that the upcoming elections will be devoid of credibility.”
Human Rights Watch was less equivocal. “The new law’s assault on opposition parties is sadly predictable,” Brad Adams, the Asia director at HRW, said in a statement. “It continues the sham political process that is aimed at creating the appearance of civilian rule with a military spine.” Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo told The Associated Press that an election without Suu Kyi would be a “farce.”
Whatever the future of “discipline flourishing genuine multiparty democracy,” as the regime refers to it, the isolated new capital may also suggest that the regime is following a road map back into Burma’s past, away from the promise of an open, democratic future. Michael Aung-Thwin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says the relocation of the capital is seen by the junta as a move back into the historical, cultural and geographic heart of Burma.
Naypyidaw lies close to — and has all but absorbed — the township of Pyinmana, which lies at the historical heart of the country. In relocating the capital from Rangoon, which served as the capital under British rule, Aung-Thwin suggests the move represents a concerted rejection of Burma’s colonial past.
Sean Turnell, an associate professor of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, says the strategic motivation for the relocation, as well as its cost — the government “could not have got much change out of $1 billion,” he says — also bodes ill for the junta’s commitment to openness. Given that much of the motivation for the relocation “extends from a certain ‘siege mentality,’ it’s illustrative that we must regard the upcoming elections, and other moves, with a great deal of scepticism,” he said.
Reports from inside Burma indicate that many citizens have adopted similar attitudes. One woman quoted in the Irrawaddy news magazine, run by Burmese exiles in Chiang Mai, Thailand, rejected the prospect of fair elections.
“I don’t even want to talk about the election,” she told reporters. “However we vote,” the regime “will do whatever it wants.” Most of the 300 people informally polled by reporters from the magazine expressed similar views.
Burma’s ethnic minority “problem” — a perennial challenge since independence — has also been thrown off balance by recent tensions along the Sino-Burmese border. After signing cease-fire agreements with Rangoon from the late 1980s onward, many ethnic separatist groups were given the right to retain their arms and formed de facto autonomous statelets in outlying parts of the country. But over the past year, the government has been pressing ethnic cease-fire groups to join a unified Border Guard Force under government control in time for this year’s elections, prompting fears of renewed fighting.
In August, ethnic forces in Kokang Special Region, a part of Burma’s Shan state, clashed with government troops, driving thousands of refugees over the border into Yunnan province in China. A deadline for ethnic armies to join the force passed on March 15; just a few days later reports surfaced of clashes between government troops and an ethnic Shan armies elsewhere in Shan state. Some have even speculated that the elections will be delayed until the border guard issue is resolved.
It might be too soon to say with certainty what a putative “democracy with Burmese characteristics” will boil down to in practice, but the signs so far are not especially promising.
Sebastian Strangio is an Australian journalist based in Phnom Penh.
Jakarta Globe - Burma’s New Jungle Capital Reflects Ruling Generals’ View of Democracy
Sebastian Strangio
Burma’s new capital city lies about a 10-hour drive — or a short, white-knuckled flight on an aging Fokker-27 — from Rangoon, the country’s largest city and former capital. A vast, empty plain of snaking arterial roads and low-density development, Naypyidaw is unlikely to experience anything approaching the so-called “Saffron Revolution” that brought Rangoon to a standstill in 2007.
For one thing, there is no obvious city center or public space of any sort. Hotels, residential areas and government buildings are quarantined in designated zones separated by kilometers of six-lane highways, cutting through tracts of jungle. The only visual point of reference — and then only at night — is the golden inverted cone of the Uppatasanti Pagoda, a life-size replica of the hallowed Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon.
As Burma prepares to go to the polls later this year as part of the military government’s much-touted “road map to democracy,” the view from Naypyidaw appears grim. When the country’s ruling generals moved the capital in 2005, some observers saw it as a defensive maneuver, a move into strategic isolation designed to limit the threat of upheaval. Siddharth Varadarajan, a journalist at The Hindu newspaper in India, described Naypyidaw as “the ultimate insurance against regime change, a masterpiece of planning designed to defeat any putative ‘color revolution’ — not by tanks and water cannons, but by geometry and cartography.”
The approach of the elections, which many expect to fall on the auspicious date of Oct. 10 (10-10-2010), has raised some hopes of a democratic opening for the isolated country. One observer said recently that the creation of new legislative bodies, however constrained, will “inadvertently” grant citizens the opportunity to influence decisions.
The signs so far, however, have vindicated the pessimists. Despite reports that election campaigning has already begun in Karen state, the epicenter of a decades-long ethnic Karen insurgency, the rules remain weighted heavily toward the junta. Five election laws promulgated earlier this month stipulate that 110 of the 440 seats in a proposed House of Representatives will be reserved for military representatives and that 56 in the 224-member House of Nationalities will be chosen by the head of the army, Sr. Gen. Than Shwe.
A political party registration law also includes provisions barring democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from participation in the elections — and possibly even from membership in the National League of Democracy, the party she led to a landslide victory in elections in 1990. The laws also ban prisoners from being members of political parties, effectively barring the participation of more than 2,000 people jailed on politically motivated charges, including several senior NLD members.
Other laws state that a five-member Election Commission, appointed by the junta, will have final say over election results, presaging a repeat of the 1990 poll, when the military simply refused to acknowledge the NLD’s victory.
On March 8, US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Washington was “troubled” by the decision to exclude Suu Kyi from the process.
“This is a step in the wrong direction,” Crowley told reporters in Washington. “The political party registration law makes a mockery of the democratic process and ensures that the upcoming elections will be devoid of credibility.”
Human Rights Watch was less equivocal. “The new law’s assault on opposition parties is sadly predictable,” Brad Adams, the Asia director at HRW, said in a statement. “It continues the sham political process that is aimed at creating the appearance of civilian rule with a military spine.” Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo told The Associated Press that an election without Suu Kyi would be a “farce.”
Whatever the future of “discipline flourishing genuine multiparty democracy,” as the regime refers to it, the isolated new capital may also suggest that the regime is following a road map back into Burma’s past, away from the promise of an open, democratic future. Michael Aung-Thwin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says the relocation of the capital is seen by the junta as a move back into the historical, cultural and geographic heart of Burma.
Naypyidaw lies close to — and has all but absorbed — the township of Pyinmana, which lies at the historical heart of the country. In relocating the capital from Rangoon, which served as the capital under British rule, Aung-Thwin suggests the move represents a concerted rejection of Burma’s colonial past.
Sean Turnell, an associate professor of economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, says the strategic motivation for the relocation, as well as its cost — the government “could not have got much change out of $1 billion,” he says — also bodes ill for the junta’s commitment to openness. Given that much of the motivation for the relocation “extends from a certain ‘siege mentality,’ it’s illustrative that we must regard the upcoming elections, and other moves, with a great deal of scepticism,” he said.
Reports from inside Burma indicate that many citizens have adopted similar attitudes. One woman quoted in the Irrawaddy news magazine, run by Burmese exiles in Chiang Mai, Thailand, rejected the prospect of fair elections.
“I don’t even want to talk about the election,” she told reporters. “However we vote,” the regime “will do whatever it wants.” Most of the 300 people informally polled by reporters from the magazine expressed similar views.
Burma’s ethnic minority “problem” — a perennial challenge since independence — has also been thrown off balance by recent tensions along the Sino-Burmese border. After signing cease-fire agreements with Rangoon from the late 1980s onward, many ethnic separatist groups were given the right to retain their arms and formed de facto autonomous statelets in outlying parts of the country. But over the past year, the government has been pressing ethnic cease-fire groups to join a unified Border Guard Force under government control in time for this year’s elections, prompting fears of renewed fighting.
In August, ethnic forces in Kokang Special Region, a part of Burma’s Shan state, clashed with government troops, driving thousands of refugees over the border into Yunnan province in China. A deadline for ethnic armies to join the force passed on March 15; just a few days later reports surfaced of clashes between government troops and an ethnic Shan armies elsewhere in Shan state. Some have even speculated that the elections will be delayed until the border guard issue is resolved.
It might be too soon to say with certainty what a putative “democracy with Burmese characteristics” will boil down to in practice, but the signs so far are not especially promising.
Sebastian Strangio is an Australian journalist based in Phnom Penh.
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Bangkok Post - Burma's long, hard road to democracy
Published: 22/03/2010 at 05:44 PM
Online news: Breakingnews
Burma might need three or four more elections before it could have a working democracy, but it has to start with the first election, according to leading dissidents.
But many activists remained unconvinced, saying the general election is intended only to whitewash the entrenched military rule.
Harn Yawnghwe, executive director of Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office, said there was nothing much the outsiders could do - Asean and China strictly hold on to the non-interference principle while the US seemed to be obsessed with Afghanistan, Iran and other concerns.
But it did not mean that these countries were not involved.
“Asean will eventually accept the election, no matter what the results will be, hopefully not blatantly,” said Mr Harn, of Shan ethnic, at Chulalongkorn University’s public forum Monday on "Myanmar/Burma – Domestic Developments and International Responses."
Inside Burma, there also seemed to be very limited options, “Certainly, the military will not allow people a lot of chances and they will not bring about democracy, but people inside the country needed to maximize the chance of having its first election in two decades,” said the senior Shan dissident.
The election law has already stipulated that if political parties or politicians boycott this election, the running candidate would automatically win, no matter what.
“The ethnic groups have to participate in this election, and they are doing so. Burma might need a few more elections before we could see some working democracy,” Mr Harn said.
Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese student leader during the 1980s, said the general election would open room for newcomers, unknown faces of various minorities in political scenes, and these candidates, although most of them had military backgrounds, should not be considered in a negative light.
“Inside the limited narrow choice of work, many ethnic people inevitably join the military. But these people are not necessarily evil. They are not stupid but well-educated—so they should be better than the blatant military SPDC,” said Mr Naing Oo, who advocated engagement with the Burmese junta.
He told a strong audience this morning that election would lead to long term prospect for bottom-up democracy, “This is a step that you must take, there’s no other way. We might need another 3-4 elections before we can see some positive light,” said the Chiang Mai-based analyst.
However, Khin Omar, coordinator of Burma Partnership, said the people inside Burma needed a really inclusive, transparent process that respects the rights of all peoples of Burma, not the current restricted environment.
“The key mechanism through which the junta has guaranteed its continued grip on power is the 2008 constitution that cements their authority in the three branches of government,” said Ms Omar.
While new regional and state parliaments would provide some representation for ethnic political voices, the constitution rejected their long-standing demands for federalism. “The election may not be even held in many ethnic areas,” said the Mae Sot-based activist.
Mr Harn argued that there was no ideal situation available, “Sixty years of armed struggle could not overthrow the junta either, so we have to make most use of the opportunity.”
Mr Naing Oo said a semi-military government was better than a blunt military administration and this was a golden opportunity for both the junta and Asean to endorse each other.
“There are in fact a lot of similarities between Burma and other Asean partners.”
But Western diplomats still encouraged Burma’s neighbours, particularly Thailand, Asean, China, and India to “do something”.
Canadian ambassador Ron Hoffmann said international community’s strategies regarding Burma have remained divided, yet Burma issue was still part of the G 8 political security concern.
Canada, where the majority of the 5,000 refugee population is from Burma, is now the president of the Group of heavyweight countries (G8).
Mr Hoffmann conceded that while sanctions would still continue, the international community needed to recognise there were wide views on the ground.
“Canada’s civil society against the regime is quite strong but we are still hesitant to close the space completely,” the Canadian ambassador to Thailand said. The election might not be free and fair but there’s a painful decision to make by the people there — whether to endorse the poll or risk the status quo.
Despite the disunity in the approach to Burma, the ambassador said, there should be common space or issue. All the neighbouring countries including Thailand, Asean, China, and India should communicate with the Burmese government and greater dialogue needed to be forged and a commitment on human rights and free and fair elections was a necessity.
“Asean and China have a non-interference policy but it is time they made a tough decision. Asean, in particular, has been in real dilemma but it is increasingly emerged as a grouping with its own human rights mechanism, therefore they have a legitimate role to play on Burma,” said Mr Hoffmann.
While he urged Burma’s neighbours to “do something”, he felt the G8 and Canada needed to be agile and evaluating —“a policy stance that is changeable to the situation”.
George Kent, the US embassy political counselor, said Washington's stance has been similar to other regional players here who would like to see a dialogue between key stakeholders including opposition and ethnic groups, but since last November's visit by US senior officials to the country, there did not seem to be any positive signals.
“The election laws show unwillingness toward that ends. It’s also disappointing to see the election commission was handpicked by the regime,” said Mr Kent.
Like other Western diplomats, Mr Kent observed that Asean after expressing blunt concerns on Burma’s development at the Asean meetings in Phuket, had become silent.
Its earlier hope— a tripartite core group, a coordinating mechanism on Post-Nargis Humanitarian Assistance, which was regarded as Asean window of opportunity to work with the military regime, has been wrapped up. So the Asean hope was also dashed, said the American diplomat.
Yet, he urged Thailand, Asean and all other players in the region that it was now more critical in expressing and sharing concerns privately and publicly with Burma that there must be some positive change and inclusive process within the country.
Published: 22/03/2010 at 05:44 PM
Online news: Breakingnews
Burma might need three or four more elections before it could have a working democracy, but it has to start with the first election, according to leading dissidents.
But many activists remained unconvinced, saying the general election is intended only to whitewash the entrenched military rule.
Harn Yawnghwe, executive director of Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office, said there was nothing much the outsiders could do - Asean and China strictly hold on to the non-interference principle while the US seemed to be obsessed with Afghanistan, Iran and other concerns.
But it did not mean that these countries were not involved.
“Asean will eventually accept the election, no matter what the results will be, hopefully not blatantly,” said Mr Harn, of Shan ethnic, at Chulalongkorn University’s public forum Monday on "Myanmar/Burma – Domestic Developments and International Responses."
Inside Burma, there also seemed to be very limited options, “Certainly, the military will not allow people a lot of chances and they will not bring about democracy, but people inside the country needed to maximize the chance of having its first election in two decades,” said the senior Shan dissident.
The election law has already stipulated that if political parties or politicians boycott this election, the running candidate would automatically win, no matter what.
“The ethnic groups have to participate in this election, and they are doing so. Burma might need a few more elections before we could see some working democracy,” Mr Harn said.
Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese student leader during the 1980s, said the general election would open room for newcomers, unknown faces of various minorities in political scenes, and these candidates, although most of them had military backgrounds, should not be considered in a negative light.
“Inside the limited narrow choice of work, many ethnic people inevitably join the military. But these people are not necessarily evil. They are not stupid but well-educated—so they should be better than the blatant military SPDC,” said Mr Naing Oo, who advocated engagement with the Burmese junta.
He told a strong audience this morning that election would lead to long term prospect for bottom-up democracy, “This is a step that you must take, there’s no other way. We might need another 3-4 elections before we can see some positive light,” said the Chiang Mai-based analyst.
However, Khin Omar, coordinator of Burma Partnership, said the people inside Burma needed a really inclusive, transparent process that respects the rights of all peoples of Burma, not the current restricted environment.
“The key mechanism through which the junta has guaranteed its continued grip on power is the 2008 constitution that cements their authority in the three branches of government,” said Ms Omar.
While new regional and state parliaments would provide some representation for ethnic political voices, the constitution rejected their long-standing demands for federalism. “The election may not be even held in many ethnic areas,” said the Mae Sot-based activist.
Mr Harn argued that there was no ideal situation available, “Sixty years of armed struggle could not overthrow the junta either, so we have to make most use of the opportunity.”
Mr Naing Oo said a semi-military government was better than a blunt military administration and this was a golden opportunity for both the junta and Asean to endorse each other.
“There are in fact a lot of similarities between Burma and other Asean partners.”
But Western diplomats still encouraged Burma’s neighbours, particularly Thailand, Asean, China, and India to “do something”.
Canadian ambassador Ron Hoffmann said international community’s strategies regarding Burma have remained divided, yet Burma issue was still part of the G 8 political security concern.
Canada, where the majority of the 5,000 refugee population is from Burma, is now the president of the Group of heavyweight countries (G8).
Mr Hoffmann conceded that while sanctions would still continue, the international community needed to recognise there were wide views on the ground.
“Canada’s civil society against the regime is quite strong but we are still hesitant to close the space completely,” the Canadian ambassador to Thailand said. The election might not be free and fair but there’s a painful decision to make by the people there — whether to endorse the poll or risk the status quo.
Despite the disunity in the approach to Burma, the ambassador said, there should be common space or issue. All the neighbouring countries including Thailand, Asean, China, and India should communicate with the Burmese government and greater dialogue needed to be forged and a commitment on human rights and free and fair elections was a necessity.
“Asean and China have a non-interference policy but it is time they made a tough decision. Asean, in particular, has been in real dilemma but it is increasingly emerged as a grouping with its own human rights mechanism, therefore they have a legitimate role to play on Burma,” said Mr Hoffmann.
While he urged Burma’s neighbours to “do something”, he felt the G8 and Canada needed to be agile and evaluating —“a policy stance that is changeable to the situation”.
George Kent, the US embassy political counselor, said Washington's stance has been similar to other regional players here who would like to see a dialogue between key stakeholders including opposition and ethnic groups, but since last November's visit by US senior officials to the country, there did not seem to be any positive signals.
“The election laws show unwillingness toward that ends. It’s also disappointing to see the election commission was handpicked by the regime,” said Mr Kent.
Like other Western diplomats, Mr Kent observed that Asean after expressing blunt concerns on Burma’s development at the Asean meetings in Phuket, had become silent.
Its earlier hope— a tripartite core group, a coordinating mechanism on Post-Nargis Humanitarian Assistance, which was regarded as Asean window of opportunity to work with the military regime, has been wrapped up. So the Asean hope was also dashed, said the American diplomat.
Yet, he urged Thailand, Asean and all other players in the region that it was now more critical in expressing and sharing concerns privately and publicly with Burma that there must be some positive change and inclusive process within the country.
***********************************************************
Bangkok Post - EDITORIAL: Asean should take a stand on Burma
Published: 21/03/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
As the general election in Burma, still scheduled for "sometime this year", draws ever closer, it is time for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to seriously consider a review of the grouping's famous policy of non-intervention. Especially after the recently announced election laws. There are few experienced Burma watchers who hold out much hope that the elections will do much to break the military junta's grip on power or bring about a more hopeful situation for its people.
One of the election laws requires that the National League for Democracy (NLD) expel its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, because she is serving a suspended sentence under house arrest.
Even more distressing, UN special envoy Tomas Quintana, who visited Burma last month, told the UN Human Rights Council that the elections due this year could not be credible, because the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) had failed to remedy human rights abuses including the recruitment of child soldiers and the jailing of more than 2,000 prisoners of conscience.
Mr Quintana has recommended a UN inquiry into whether war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed there.
It appears that as the election approaches increased tensions are developing between the government and a number of ethnic groups.
An Associated Press report on Friday quoted the general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Zipporah Sein, as saying at a news conference in Bangkok that the ''risk of armed conflict between powerful ethnic minority groups and the military regime is at its highest level in more than two decades as contentious national elections loom on the horizon''. The KNU's military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, is Burma's largest ethnic army, and has for some time engaged in fighting against Burmese troops, which it says is strictly to protect Karen civilians. Independent reports from human rights organisations and the UN confirm that the Burmese army is attacking and deliberately targeting civilians.
There are reports that other armed ethnic groups like the Kachin Independence Army and groups which have signed ceasefire agreements with the government, such as the Wa State Army and the New Mon State Party, are also preparing for a possible war.
In these areas the rising tensions are due in large part to a government plan to transform the armed ceasefire groups into a Border Guard Force under its control.
While in more normal circumstances this may be a good idea, the history of mistrust between the government and most of these groups probably makes this an impossibility under such short notice.
Zipporah Sein, the first woman leader of the KNU, has said: ''The military is sending troops to the areas of the ceasefire groups and they are ready to fight if attacked. So the tension is rising between them.''
Individually, many influential people within the region, including some government leaders, have spoken out against the situation in Burma in the run-up to the election, but Asean has officially remained silent.
Failure to articulate a principled stand on the Burmese government's flagrant disregard for accepted international election standards of inclusiveness and transparency, and even more importantly, on the many apparent human rights violations, could seriously hurt Asean's credibility in the international community. Moreover, such a failure amounts to a refusal to make the attempt to restrain the SPDC from one of the few quarters which may have real influence on the Burmese leadership.
This applies also to China, which continually blocks efforts in the UN Security Council to put pressure on Burma. Most recently this was done when British Prime Minister Gordon Brown requested an emergency meeting to discuss the Burmese electoral laws. Also last week, China's representative to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva said there has been an improvement in Burma's human rights performance despite recent statements like the one coming from Mr Quintana.
It is important for Asean and China to realise that any short-term gains from placating Burma may be far outweighed by the consequences of allowing the SPDC to continue in its present course.
Published: 21/03/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
As the general election in Burma, still scheduled for "sometime this year", draws ever closer, it is time for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to seriously consider a review of the grouping's famous policy of non-intervention. Especially after the recently announced election laws. There are few experienced Burma watchers who hold out much hope that the elections will do much to break the military junta's grip on power or bring about a more hopeful situation for its people.
One of the election laws requires that the National League for Democracy (NLD) expel its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, because she is serving a suspended sentence under house arrest.
Even more distressing, UN special envoy Tomas Quintana, who visited Burma last month, told the UN Human Rights Council that the elections due this year could not be credible, because the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) had failed to remedy human rights abuses including the recruitment of child soldiers and the jailing of more than 2,000 prisoners of conscience.
Mr Quintana has recommended a UN inquiry into whether war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed there.
It appears that as the election approaches increased tensions are developing between the government and a number of ethnic groups.
An Associated Press report on Friday quoted the general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Zipporah Sein, as saying at a news conference in Bangkok that the ''risk of armed conflict between powerful ethnic minority groups and the military regime is at its highest level in more than two decades as contentious national elections loom on the horizon''. The KNU's military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, is Burma's largest ethnic army, and has for some time engaged in fighting against Burmese troops, which it says is strictly to protect Karen civilians. Independent reports from human rights organisations and the UN confirm that the Burmese army is attacking and deliberately targeting civilians.
There are reports that other armed ethnic groups like the Kachin Independence Army and groups which have signed ceasefire agreements with the government, such as the Wa State Army and the New Mon State Party, are also preparing for a possible war.
In these areas the rising tensions are due in large part to a government plan to transform the armed ceasefire groups into a Border Guard Force under its control.
While in more normal circumstances this may be a good idea, the history of mistrust between the government and most of these groups probably makes this an impossibility under such short notice.
Zipporah Sein, the first woman leader of the KNU, has said: ''The military is sending troops to the areas of the ceasefire groups and they are ready to fight if attacked. So the tension is rising between them.''
Individually, many influential people within the region, including some government leaders, have spoken out against the situation in Burma in the run-up to the election, but Asean has officially remained silent.
Failure to articulate a principled stand on the Burmese government's flagrant disregard for accepted international election standards of inclusiveness and transparency, and even more importantly, on the many apparent human rights violations, could seriously hurt Asean's credibility in the international community. Moreover, such a failure amounts to a refusal to make the attempt to restrain the SPDC from one of the few quarters which may have real influence on the Burmese leadership.
This applies also to China, which continually blocks efforts in the UN Security Council to put pressure on Burma. Most recently this was done when British Prime Minister Gordon Brown requested an emergency meeting to discuss the Burmese electoral laws. Also last week, China's representative to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva said there has been an improvement in Burma's human rights performance despite recent statements like the one coming from Mr Quintana.
It is important for Asean and China to realise that any short-term gains from placating Burma may be far outweighed by the consequences of allowing the SPDC to continue in its present course.
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The Nation - The South China Sea will be next dispute to top Asean's agenda
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
Published on March 21, 2010
SOONER OR LATER, the South China Sea issue could replace Burma as Asean's biggest challenge under the chairmanship of Vietnam.
From now on Burma can confidently pursue its seven-point road map without any pressure from its Asean peers as experienced in the previous four years under the chairs of Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since assuming the Asean chair in January, Vietnam has been discreet and non-confrontational in taking up the Burmese political situation. Any new Asean initiative on Burma, particularly ahead of the upcoming election, would be difficult, if not impossible.
Vietnam is one of the strongest supporters of Asean's non-interference principle. When Vietnam chaired Asean in 1998 for the first time, three years after admission, Hanoi was very proud of its record in enhancing unity and unanimity within Asean.
Rangoon's confidence in the new Asean chair has been succinct. So far, it has done nothing to assure Asean and the international community that the first planned election in 20 years would be inclusive, free and fair. The junta does not need to do that as it will be a fait accompli eventually anyway. The five election laws issued last week were a shame. They banned the opposition party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from taking part in the polls. As if the ban is not enough, the laws also require the National League of Democracy to expel her from the party.
Without her participation, the election is meaningless. But that is exactly what the regime wants.
Once the election is held - completely rigged and unaccounted for as it is expected to be - sometime this year, Asean would be the first to take note of the results and move on. The condemnation and outcries from the international community that follow will not dent the Asean consensus. In the past two decades, numerous campaigns against the junta leaders have not brought any change in the Rangoon regime's behaviour and policies. Another case in point was the latest call for a tribunal for crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese junta leaders which would in no way block the Burmese roadmap.
It is also foreseeable that Asean could even bolster Burma post election by allowing Rangoon to host the Asean chair - that it skipped in 2005 - next year or in 2012 when East Timor expects to join Asean. Although its resumption is not automatic, a consensus on this issue can easily be reached under Vietnam's tutelage. Asean's own interest would be served now that its pariah member has become a normal country, just completing an election like them. As such, if need be, Rangoon can now claim that the country is ready domestically to be the Asean chair.
Washington's efforts to alter the tedious course involving further dialogue and political consultation with Burma has not produced any desired results. Six months after a series of high-level meetings between officials of the US and Burma, hopes are dashed for a further easing of economic sanctions. The junta has recently turned down the planned visit of US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, Kurt Campbell, to Rangoon for the second time. He might be able to get permission to go there later on.
Furthermore, Vietnam's own political development and the grouping's mixed record of electoral process literally shut off further initiatives, even comments, on post-election Burma. If opportunities arise, however, the junta leaders would prefer to credit Vietnam's leading role in Asean for playing down Burma's crisis. In 2006, Hanoi played a pivotal role in breaking down the EU imposed restrictions on Burma and successfully pushed it as a member of the Asia Europe Meeting.
Unmistakably, after 15 years of Asean membership, Vietnam has affirmed its position and prestige for being the driving force of new members Laos, Burma and Cambodia. Asean this year will have to deal with a more pressing issue�the dispute in the South China Sea and future cooperation over it. After the signing in 2002 of a Declaration of Conduct of Concerned Parties in South China Sea between China and Asean in Phnom Penh, this sensitive issue has been kept under wrap for the past eight years. Absence of progress on confidence and trust building measures among claimants in the disputed areas, which covers Spratlys, Paracel Islands and Scarborough Shoals, has now become the biggest sore spot in Asean-China relations.
Since 1997, Asean as a group has called for respecting the status quo of the disputed islands and avoiding any action that would complicate the situation. But truth be told, some claimants have not followed their promises and exercised self-restraint. They have occupied some islets and build up new constructions. The claimants apparently do not honour the non-legal binding document. Asean and China remain at loggerheads, as they have for the past several years, to transform this declaration into a binding code of conduct.
Obviously, overall sentiment among the Asean claimants and non-claimants has also changed over times. Back in March 1995, Asean was quite united against China's position over the Mischief Reefs.
Their strong joint statement jolted China's confidence and assertiveness which helped to set forth the future direction of Asean-China engagement for the next 15 years and beyond.
As China rises rapidly in terms of regional and global clout, any discussion on the Asean future course of action, whatever it is or may be, would no longer find uniformity. Non-claimant members such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines- a claimant- prefer the current arrangement with ongoing talks without the issue being "multilateralised" by including it in the summit's agenda. The question is: Can Asean muster the courage and collectively negotiate with China as it used to do? Or, is it better to keep the issue as benign as before without making a stir? As for Vietnam's strategy during its chair, Hanoi will actively put forward concrete measures to implement the declaration on a step-by-step basis, starting from feasible and less-sensitive matters, especially those contained in Articles 5 and 6 without touching on the life and death issue involving overlapping sovereignty.
Asean's latest common position on China was the refusal to accept Beijing's eagerness to sign the Southeast Asia Nuclear Free Zone Treaty two years ago. Asean wanted all the big five to sign it simultaneously. In other words, Asean no longer accords preferential treatment to Beijing as it used to. In months to come, their relations will be more business-like with more assertiveness from both sides. Another new challenge will be the current drought along the Mekong River. China has dismissed allegations that its series of huge dam construction has caused the water shortages in the lower Mekong region. China and Burma will take part as dialogue partners at the summit among the Mekong riparian countries planned for April 2-5 in Hua Hin. It could set a new benchmark between China and the Mekong lower riparian states, which are also Asean members.
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
Published on March 21, 2010
SOONER OR LATER, the South China Sea issue could replace Burma as Asean's biggest challenge under the chairmanship of Vietnam.
From now on Burma can confidently pursue its seven-point road map without any pressure from its Asean peers as experienced in the previous four years under the chairs of Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since assuming the Asean chair in January, Vietnam has been discreet and non-confrontational in taking up the Burmese political situation. Any new Asean initiative on Burma, particularly ahead of the upcoming election, would be difficult, if not impossible.
Vietnam is one of the strongest supporters of Asean's non-interference principle. When Vietnam chaired Asean in 1998 for the first time, three years after admission, Hanoi was very proud of its record in enhancing unity and unanimity within Asean.
Rangoon's confidence in the new Asean chair has been succinct. So far, it has done nothing to assure Asean and the international community that the first planned election in 20 years would be inclusive, free and fair. The junta does not need to do that as it will be a fait accompli eventually anyway. The five election laws issued last week were a shame. They banned the opposition party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from taking part in the polls. As if the ban is not enough, the laws also require the National League of Democracy to expel her from the party.
Without her participation, the election is meaningless. But that is exactly what the regime wants.
Once the election is held - completely rigged and unaccounted for as it is expected to be - sometime this year, Asean would be the first to take note of the results and move on. The condemnation and outcries from the international community that follow will not dent the Asean consensus. In the past two decades, numerous campaigns against the junta leaders have not brought any change in the Rangoon regime's behaviour and policies. Another case in point was the latest call for a tribunal for crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese junta leaders which would in no way block the Burmese roadmap.
It is also foreseeable that Asean could even bolster Burma post election by allowing Rangoon to host the Asean chair - that it skipped in 2005 - next year or in 2012 when East Timor expects to join Asean. Although its resumption is not automatic, a consensus on this issue can easily be reached under Vietnam's tutelage. Asean's own interest would be served now that its pariah member has become a normal country, just completing an election like them. As such, if need be, Rangoon can now claim that the country is ready domestically to be the Asean chair.
Washington's efforts to alter the tedious course involving further dialogue and political consultation with Burma has not produced any desired results. Six months after a series of high-level meetings between officials of the US and Burma, hopes are dashed for a further easing of economic sanctions. The junta has recently turned down the planned visit of US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, Kurt Campbell, to Rangoon for the second time. He might be able to get permission to go there later on.
Furthermore, Vietnam's own political development and the grouping's mixed record of electoral process literally shut off further initiatives, even comments, on post-election Burma. If opportunities arise, however, the junta leaders would prefer to credit Vietnam's leading role in Asean for playing down Burma's crisis. In 2006, Hanoi played a pivotal role in breaking down the EU imposed restrictions on Burma and successfully pushed it as a member of the Asia Europe Meeting.
Unmistakably, after 15 years of Asean membership, Vietnam has affirmed its position and prestige for being the driving force of new members Laos, Burma and Cambodia. Asean this year will have to deal with a more pressing issue�the dispute in the South China Sea and future cooperation over it. After the signing in 2002 of a Declaration of Conduct of Concerned Parties in South China Sea between China and Asean in Phnom Penh, this sensitive issue has been kept under wrap for the past eight years. Absence of progress on confidence and trust building measures among claimants in the disputed areas, which covers Spratlys, Paracel Islands and Scarborough Shoals, has now become the biggest sore spot in Asean-China relations.
Since 1997, Asean as a group has called for respecting the status quo of the disputed islands and avoiding any action that would complicate the situation. But truth be told, some claimants have not followed their promises and exercised self-restraint. They have occupied some islets and build up new constructions. The claimants apparently do not honour the non-legal binding document. Asean and China remain at loggerheads, as they have for the past several years, to transform this declaration into a binding code of conduct.
Obviously, overall sentiment among the Asean claimants and non-claimants has also changed over times. Back in March 1995, Asean was quite united against China's position over the Mischief Reefs.
Their strong joint statement jolted China's confidence and assertiveness which helped to set forth the future direction of Asean-China engagement for the next 15 years and beyond.
As China rises rapidly in terms of regional and global clout, any discussion on the Asean future course of action, whatever it is or may be, would no longer find uniformity. Non-claimant members such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines- a claimant- prefer the current arrangement with ongoing talks without the issue being "multilateralised" by including it in the summit's agenda. The question is: Can Asean muster the courage and collectively negotiate with China as it used to do? Or, is it better to keep the issue as benign as before without making a stir? As for Vietnam's strategy during its chair, Hanoi will actively put forward concrete measures to implement the declaration on a step-by-step basis, starting from feasible and less-sensitive matters, especially those contained in Articles 5 and 6 without touching on the life and death issue involving overlapping sovereignty.
Asean's latest common position on China was the refusal to accept Beijing's eagerness to sign the Southeast Asia Nuclear Free Zone Treaty two years ago. Asean wanted all the big five to sign it simultaneously. In other words, Asean no longer accords preferential treatment to Beijing as it used to. In months to come, their relations will be more business-like with more assertiveness from both sides. Another new challenge will be the current drought along the Mekong River. China has dismissed allegations that its series of huge dam construction has caused the water shortages in the lower Mekong region. China and Burma will take part as dialogue partners at the summit among the Mekong riparian countries planned for April 2-5 in Hua Hin. It could set a new benchmark between China and the Mekong lower riparian states, which are also Asean members.
***********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Burmese Media Blasts Critics
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Monday, March 22, 2010
RANGOON—State-run newspapers in Burma accused critics of the country's new election laws of showing their bias by denouncing one or two aspects of the legislation and ignoring their intent to restore democracy.
The commentary also defended the laws against criticism that they targeted detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is ineligible to run for office under the election rules.
The ruling junta earlier this month enacted five laws that set out the rules for elections expected later this year. No exact date has been set for the polls, which would be the first since 1990. The last election was won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, but the military refused to hand over power.
"Every person who wishes to carry out the democratization process peacefully and in accord with the Constitution sees enactment of the laws as a significant development," said a commentary in the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper and its sister publications.
But those who disagree with the military government's “Road Map to Democracy” expressed their disagreement even before the five laws were published, it said.
Calling the laws unacceptable based on disagreeing with one or two articles without even reading the whole thing is an act of bias, showing intention to oppose everything, it said. The newspapers closely reflect official opinion.
The new party registration law, announced last week, prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party and also makes them ineligible to be a candidate in the elections.
That makes Suu Kyi ineligible, because she was convicted last year on charges of violating her house arrest when an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside property. She has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, and is currently serving an 18-month term of house arrest.
The newspaper commentary denied the law was aimed at anyone in particular.
"Some say the law is designed to ban a certain person from standing for election," the commentary said. "If it is intended for the said person, an article would have been referred to a specific crime so that the person will be banned from the election forever."
Any convicted criminals are free to join political parties when they are released, unlike Burma's first constitution that barred convicted persons from being members of parliament within five years of their release, it said.
The article also defended provisions—higher fees and membership minimums—that would make it more difficult for political parties to register. It recalled that in 1990, 235 parties registered but only 90 took part in the election. The others had to be abolished as they committed illegal acts and malpractice, it said.
"Now is the time when we have to start to shape [the] democratic system. So, quality is more important than quantity," the commentary said.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Monday, March 22, 2010
RANGOON—State-run newspapers in Burma accused critics of the country's new election laws of showing their bias by denouncing one or two aspects of the legislation and ignoring their intent to restore democracy.
The commentary also defended the laws against criticism that they targeted detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is ineligible to run for office under the election rules.
The ruling junta earlier this month enacted five laws that set out the rules for elections expected later this year. No exact date has been set for the polls, which would be the first since 1990. The last election was won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, but the military refused to hand over power.
"Every person who wishes to carry out the democratization process peacefully and in accord with the Constitution sees enactment of the laws as a significant development," said a commentary in the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper and its sister publications.
But those who disagree with the military government's “Road Map to Democracy” expressed their disagreement even before the five laws were published, it said.
Calling the laws unacceptable based on disagreeing with one or two articles without even reading the whole thing is an act of bias, showing intention to oppose everything, it said. The newspapers closely reflect official opinion.
The new party registration law, announced last week, prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party and also makes them ineligible to be a candidate in the elections.
That makes Suu Kyi ineligible, because she was convicted last year on charges of violating her house arrest when an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside property. She has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, and is currently serving an 18-month term of house arrest.
The newspaper commentary denied the law was aimed at anyone in particular.
"Some say the law is designed to ban a certain person from standing for election," the commentary said. "If it is intended for the said person, an article would have been referred to a specific crime so that the person will be banned from the election forever."
Any convicted criminals are free to join political parties when they are released, unlike Burma's first constitution that barred convicted persons from being members of parliament within five years of their release, it said.
The article also defended provisions—higher fees and membership minimums—that would make it more difficult for political parties to register. It recalled that in 1990, 235 parties registered but only 90 took part in the election. The others had to be abolished as they committed illegal acts and malpractice, it said.
"Now is the time when we have to start to shape [the] democratic system. So, quality is more important than quantity," the commentary said.
***********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - US Calls for Election Law Changes in Burma
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN - Monday, March 22, 2010
An official at the US embassy in Bangkok has said that Burma's recently announced election law must be amended, otherwise the scheduled 2010 polls will be “very difficult to judge as free, fair or credible.”
Addressing a forum on Burma at Chulalongkorn University on Monday, George Kent, who is Political Counsel at the US embassy in Thailand, compared the military junta's handpicked Electoral Commission––which has veto powers over candidates––to a similar system used by the rulers of Iran. He said that although the US is “trying to take advantage of any potential openings presented by the election period,” the electoral laws and bylaws indicate that “the government does not have the intention to respond.”
He reiterated calls for the release of all political prisoners and the holding of an inclusive dialogue process in Burma before the election is held.
Kent added that the US is “closely considering” the recent report and recommendations made by UN Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana, including the suggestion that the UN Security Council discuss the possible establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.
Earlier an array of activists, journalists, academics and civil society groups discussed the proposed election, with divisions emerging over whether the polls represented a real opportunity for change in Burma.
The main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is due to announce on March 29 whether or not it will participate in the election, with political prisoners including its leader Aung San Suu Kyi barred from running. The NLD will have to expel Suu Kyi if it wants to participate, according to the election law.
Dr. Nay Win Maung, the co-founder of Rangoon-based NGO EGRESS, said, “Those of us inside the country do not have the luxury of opposing the election,” which he said he believes will lead to a form of “liberal authoritarianism,” which, though imperfect, will be better than the status quo, he said.
“If we do not go through with the election,” he said, “we are choosing to push continued military rule.”
That viewpoint runs counter to the view that by participating in an election, the opposition parties would lend credence to the process that “leads to a 'civilianization' of government, rather than a civilian government,” said Larry Jagan, a Burma expert and former BBC correspondent covering Asia.
Dr. Maung Zarni, now a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University, paid tribute to the dissidents and more than 2,100 olitical prisoners inside Burma. Dr. Zarni said he believes that many of the political prisoners could secure their release by swearing their loyalty to the regime and co-operating with its self-described “Roadmap to Democracy.”
“But they decide to stay in jail, for what they believe in,” he said.
Burmese activists in exile have asked that the international community to refuse to recognize the upcoming election, and groups such as the Karen National Union have already declared that they will not participate.
Thein Oo was elected as MP for the NLD in the 1990 election, which the military overturned after a resounding NLD victory. Speaking last week at the launch of a petition to oppose the election, he said that “parties cannot campaign or participate when the law obliges them to kick out their leadership or many of their key members in advance.”
Advocating optimism, Aung Naing Oo of the Vahu Development Institute said that people need to “think outside the ballot box.” Ethnic minorities will have some devolved powers, he said, and should avail of this new opportunity to acquire a greater say in how Burma is run.
“There are some good generals, from the various ethnic groups, who may decide to run for parliament,” he said. “We should be trying to support those people.”
However the decades-old, on-off fighting between the Burmese-dominated military and the ethnic groups will not be resolved by this election, according to The Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw, who said that without any reconciliation there will not be any positive political change in Burma.
The Burmese army is reported to be sending reinforcements to ethnic minority strongholds after ethnic militias defied four deadlines to stand down and become part of the state border guard forces.
Director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office, Harn Yawnghwe comes from the Shan region of Burma. He recalled that military concerns about possible separatism among ethnic groups motivated the 1962 coup, when the military took power in Burma. “The may offer some concessions,” he said, “but will not negotiate on key issues that the ethnic representatives want.”
Other potential chinks of light, according to some observers, include the recent spate of privatizations undertaken by the junta. Dr. Nay Win Maung believes that by changing the relationship between the state and market, the regime is facilitating what could be a different engagement between government and civil society.
However, Canadian Ambassador to Thailand Ron Hoffman said that his government was concerned at the “moribund services and lack of transparency” in the privatization process, which Dr. Zarni compared with the firesale of Russia's economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when state assets and resources went for a relative pittance to former regime insiders turned entrepreneurs.
“All this will do is expand and deepen the regime's economic comfort zone,” he concluded.
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN - Monday, March 22, 2010
An official at the US embassy in Bangkok has said that Burma's recently announced election law must be amended, otherwise the scheduled 2010 polls will be “very difficult to judge as free, fair or credible.”
Addressing a forum on Burma at Chulalongkorn University on Monday, George Kent, who is Political Counsel at the US embassy in Thailand, compared the military junta's handpicked Electoral Commission––which has veto powers over candidates––to a similar system used by the rulers of Iran. He said that although the US is “trying to take advantage of any potential openings presented by the election period,” the electoral laws and bylaws indicate that “the government does not have the intention to respond.”
He reiterated calls for the release of all political prisoners and the holding of an inclusive dialogue process in Burma before the election is held.
Kent added that the US is “closely considering” the recent report and recommendations made by UN Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana, including the suggestion that the UN Security Council discuss the possible establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.
Earlier an array of activists, journalists, academics and civil society groups discussed the proposed election, with divisions emerging over whether the polls represented a real opportunity for change in Burma.
The main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is due to announce on March 29 whether or not it will participate in the election, with political prisoners including its leader Aung San Suu Kyi barred from running. The NLD will have to expel Suu Kyi if it wants to participate, according to the election law.
Dr. Nay Win Maung, the co-founder of Rangoon-based NGO EGRESS, said, “Those of us inside the country do not have the luxury of opposing the election,” which he said he believes will lead to a form of “liberal authoritarianism,” which, though imperfect, will be better than the status quo, he said.
“If we do not go through with the election,” he said, “we are choosing to push continued military rule.”
That viewpoint runs counter to the view that by participating in an election, the opposition parties would lend credence to the process that “leads to a 'civilianization' of government, rather than a civilian government,” said Larry Jagan, a Burma expert and former BBC correspondent covering Asia.
Dr. Maung Zarni, now a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University, paid tribute to the dissidents and more than 2,100 olitical prisoners inside Burma. Dr. Zarni said he believes that many of the political prisoners could secure their release by swearing their loyalty to the regime and co-operating with its self-described “Roadmap to Democracy.”
“But they decide to stay in jail, for what they believe in,” he said.
Burmese activists in exile have asked that the international community to refuse to recognize the upcoming election, and groups such as the Karen National Union have already declared that they will not participate.
Thein Oo was elected as MP for the NLD in the 1990 election, which the military overturned after a resounding NLD victory. Speaking last week at the launch of a petition to oppose the election, he said that “parties cannot campaign or participate when the law obliges them to kick out their leadership or many of their key members in advance.”
Advocating optimism, Aung Naing Oo of the Vahu Development Institute said that people need to “think outside the ballot box.” Ethnic minorities will have some devolved powers, he said, and should avail of this new opportunity to acquire a greater say in how Burma is run.
“There are some good generals, from the various ethnic groups, who may decide to run for parliament,” he said. “We should be trying to support those people.”
However the decades-old, on-off fighting between the Burmese-dominated military and the ethnic groups will not be resolved by this election, according to The Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw, who said that without any reconciliation there will not be any positive political change in Burma.
The Burmese army is reported to be sending reinforcements to ethnic minority strongholds after ethnic militias defied four deadlines to stand down and become part of the state border guard forces.
Director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office, Harn Yawnghwe comes from the Shan region of Burma. He recalled that military concerns about possible separatism among ethnic groups motivated the 1962 coup, when the military took power in Burma. “The may offer some concessions,” he said, “but will not negotiate on key issues that the ethnic representatives want.”
Other potential chinks of light, according to some observers, include the recent spate of privatizations undertaken by the junta. Dr. Nay Win Maung believes that by changing the relationship between the state and market, the regime is facilitating what could be a different engagement between government and civil society.
However, Canadian Ambassador to Thailand Ron Hoffman said that his government was concerned at the “moribund services and lack of transparency” in the privatization process, which Dr. Zarni compared with the firesale of Russia's economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when state assets and resources went for a relative pittance to former regime insiders turned entrepreneurs.
“All this will do is expand and deepen the regime's economic comfort zone,” he concluded.
***********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Indonesia's FM to visit Burma
By SAW YAN NAING - Monday, March 22, 2010
Indonesia Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa will visit Burma on March 30 and meet with Burmese authorities as scheduled to talk about the electoral law and its implications with the aim of the promotion of democracy, according to the Indonesia news agency, ANTARA NEWS.
“We would like to know about the practical implications of the recently issued electoral law to determine whether its substance meets the Myanmar [Burma] government's commitment to hold a democratic, free and multi-party election,” Marty said on Friday.
“We hope Aung San Suu Kyi can participate in the election. She will contribute to the democratization process in Myanmar,” he said.
He also said Indonesia would not accept any undemocratic action by the military junta.
The Burmese regime announced its electoral law on March 8, but no date for the election.
The electoral law bans Suu Kyi from participating in the election because she is a political detainee, and it forces her party, the National League for Democracy, to expel her if it wants to contest in the election.
Senior officials from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) such as Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have told the Burmese government that the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners is key to winning international credibility and achieving a much-needed national reconciliation.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister of Thailand told the BBC World Service on Friday that he and other Asean members would like to see an inclusive election held in Burma.
He also said it was obvious that Burma's neighboring countries are upset about the electoral law released by the Burmese government.
Recently, Alberto Romulo, the foreign secretary of the Philippines, said, “Unless they [Burmese authorities] release Suu Kyi and allow her and her party to participate in the elections, it’s a complete farce and therefore contrary to their road map to democracy.”
Before the electoral law was released, Romulo called on the junta to ensure that the election is “free, fair, credible and all-inclusive.”
While some members of Asean are calling for the release of Suu Kyi, other members such as Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Vietnam share the Burmese junta’s penchant for authoritarian rule and have mostly been silent on the need for a free and fair election, analysts said.
During a BBC “Hardtalk” program in February, Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of Asean and a former foreign minister of Thailand, said Asean expected a credible and transparent election in Burma, but added that the organization cannot interfere in the details of the poll.
“No election is perfect,” he said. “It has to begin. That's why they [the Burmese regime] are beginning. They promise [to hold an election] at the end of this year,” Pitsuwan said.
By SAW YAN NAING - Monday, March 22, 2010
Indonesia Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa will visit Burma on March 30 and meet with Burmese authorities as scheduled to talk about the electoral law and its implications with the aim of the promotion of democracy, according to the Indonesia news agency, ANTARA NEWS.
“We would like to know about the practical implications of the recently issued electoral law to determine whether its substance meets the Myanmar [Burma] government's commitment to hold a democratic, free and multi-party election,” Marty said on Friday.
“We hope Aung San Suu Kyi can participate in the election. She will contribute to the democratization process in Myanmar,” he said.
He also said Indonesia would not accept any undemocratic action by the military junta.
The Burmese regime announced its electoral law on March 8, but no date for the election.
The electoral law bans Suu Kyi from participating in the election because she is a political detainee, and it forces her party, the National League for Democracy, to expel her if it wants to contest in the election.
Senior officials from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) such as Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have told the Burmese government that the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners is key to winning international credibility and achieving a much-needed national reconciliation.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister of Thailand told the BBC World Service on Friday that he and other Asean members would like to see an inclusive election held in Burma.
He also said it was obvious that Burma's neighboring countries are upset about the electoral law released by the Burmese government.
Recently, Alberto Romulo, the foreign secretary of the Philippines, said, “Unless they [Burmese authorities] release Suu Kyi and allow her and her party to participate in the elections, it’s a complete farce and therefore contrary to their road map to democracy.”
Before the electoral law was released, Romulo called on the junta to ensure that the election is “free, fair, credible and all-inclusive.”
While some members of Asean are calling for the release of Suu Kyi, other members such as Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Vietnam share the Burmese junta’s penchant for authoritarian rule and have mostly been silent on the need for a free and fair election, analysts said.
During a BBC “Hardtalk” program in February, Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of Asean and a former foreign minister of Thailand, said Asean expected a credible and transparent election in Burma, but added that the organization cannot interfere in the details of the poll.
“No election is perfect,” he said. “It has to begin. That's why they [the Burmese regime] are beginning. They promise [to hold an election] at the end of this year,” Pitsuwan said.
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Palpable tension between junta and KIO
Monday, 22 March 2010 18:48 Phanida
Chaing Mai (Mizzima) - There is palpable tension between the Burmese ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
On 17 March, the KIO’s central committee meeting, attended by 20 members decided not to have any further discussion on the Border Guard Force issue if the junta does not respond to the demands submitted earlier.
"We have been waiting for a response. We will not meet them unless we get a response from the junta," said a central committee member on condition of anonymity.
The KIO was founded on February 5, 1961 for self-determination of the Kachin people and reached a cease-fire with the junta in 1994.
KIO delegates handed over a letter that detailed KIO's demands to Maj-Gen Soe Win, the Northern Regional Command Commander of the Burmese Army in the country's new capital Naypyitaw on 12 March.
The KIO letter said that it did not want to transform its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) into the Border Guard Force proposed by the junta, but wanted it as a separate Kachin force to be inducted under the federal army of Burma. KIO's counter proposal was addressed to Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the regime's chief negotiator and the chief of Military Affairs Security (MAS) in Naypyitaw.
KIO wishes to maintain the ceasefire and wants to have further political negotiations with the new government after the elections, the letter added.
"We will transform the whole of KIO if our proposal is accepted, which is all the KIO's departments such as health, education and administration. But the junta wanted only the KIA to be transformed so we could not agree. If we go for transformation, it must be all. KIA must be the last to be transformed," a member of the central committee told Mizzima.
"We do not want to do anything which will stop the upcoming election and we also do not want to destroy the Union. We are just willing to discuss the political concerns," a member of the seven-member committee established by the KIO for discussing the BGF issue with the junta said.
Lt-Gen Ye Myint, in charge of negotiation from the junta side with the KIO had fixed 28 February as the deadline for KIO to respond to the BGF issue.
Meanwhile, with mounting concern of imminent outbreak of conflicts between the junta and ceasefire groups, there are more security checks on the road from Myitkyina (capital of Kachin State) and Laiza (where KIO is based), especially on the bridges, from early this month, a local resident from Laiza told Mizzima.
"Intense checking is done on the Myitkyina-Bamaw-Laiza road. It was not like this earlier," he added.
Similarly one of the ceasefire armed groups the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and its leaders had a meeting with Maj.Gen Thet Naing Win, commander of the junta's Southeast Regional Command on 16 March for a response as to whether the New Mon State Party accepts BGF, said an official of the New Mon State Party.
Five representatives of the Central Committee including NMSP's Vice President met the junta representative.
The New Mon State Party which signed cease fire agreement with the Burmese military government in 1995 had rejected the 2008 constitution and junta's proposal of transforming the cease-fire groups into the BGF.
Monday, 22 March 2010 18:48 Phanida
Chaing Mai (Mizzima) - There is palpable tension between the Burmese ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
On 17 March, the KIO’s central committee meeting, attended by 20 members decided not to have any further discussion on the Border Guard Force issue if the junta does not respond to the demands submitted earlier.
"We have been waiting for a response. We will not meet them unless we get a response from the junta," said a central committee member on condition of anonymity.
The KIO was founded on February 5, 1961 for self-determination of the Kachin people and reached a cease-fire with the junta in 1994.
KIO delegates handed over a letter that detailed KIO's demands to Maj-Gen Soe Win, the Northern Regional Command Commander of the Burmese Army in the country's new capital Naypyitaw on 12 March.
The KIO letter said that it did not want to transform its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) into the Border Guard Force proposed by the junta, but wanted it as a separate Kachin force to be inducted under the federal army of Burma. KIO's counter proposal was addressed to Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the regime's chief negotiator and the chief of Military Affairs Security (MAS) in Naypyitaw.
KIO wishes to maintain the ceasefire and wants to have further political negotiations with the new government after the elections, the letter added.
"We will transform the whole of KIO if our proposal is accepted, which is all the KIO's departments such as health, education and administration. But the junta wanted only the KIA to be transformed so we could not agree. If we go for transformation, it must be all. KIA must be the last to be transformed," a member of the central committee told Mizzima.
"We do not want to do anything which will stop the upcoming election and we also do not want to destroy the Union. We are just willing to discuss the political concerns," a member of the seven-member committee established by the KIO for discussing the BGF issue with the junta said.
Lt-Gen Ye Myint, in charge of negotiation from the junta side with the KIO had fixed 28 February as the deadline for KIO to respond to the BGF issue.
Meanwhile, with mounting concern of imminent outbreak of conflicts between the junta and ceasefire groups, there are more security checks on the road from Myitkyina (capital of Kachin State) and Laiza (where KIO is based), especially on the bridges, from early this month, a local resident from Laiza told Mizzima.
"Intense checking is done on the Myitkyina-Bamaw-Laiza road. It was not like this earlier," he added.
Similarly one of the ceasefire armed groups the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and its leaders had a meeting with Maj.Gen Thet Naing Win, commander of the junta's Southeast Regional Command on 16 March for a response as to whether the New Mon State Party accepts BGF, said an official of the New Mon State Party.
Five representatives of the Central Committee including NMSP's Vice President met the junta representative.
The New Mon State Party which signed cease fire agreement with the Burmese military government in 1995 had rejected the 2008 constitution and junta's proposal of transforming the cease-fire groups into the BGF.
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DVB News - Opposition party ‘obeys the junta’
By AYE NAI
Published: 22 March 2010
Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party has kowtowed to the military government for 20 years and has been silent on key issues in the country, a veteran pro-democracy journalist has stated.
In a strongly-worded interview with US-based Burmese multimedia magazine, MoeMaKa, renowned journalist Ludu Sein Win said the party was “no different to…the [pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association]” and blasted its “neglect of all crucial events in Burma”.
He later told DVB that the comment was a reference to the NLD’s silence during the September 2007 monk-led uprising and several other key incidents in recent Burmese history.
“When [farmers] were imprisoned after having their land confiscated in Magwe division, the NLD acted like it had nothing to do with it. It took the same position on the child soldier issue,” he said.
“The group also showed no concern over the tension between the government and the ethnic ceasefire groups such as the [United Wa State Army] and the Kokang army.”
The NLD’s spokesperson, Nyan Win, admitted recently that the party was “in crisis” following the announcement of elections laws that require the expulsion of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi if the party is to run for office.
It is due to announce next week whether it will participate in elections already decried by the party as illegitimate, although Ludu Sein Win appeared in no doubt about the likely decision.
“The NLD will go for the political party registration and enter the elections,” he told MoeMaKa, adding that it was a party “without a policy”.
“A party without a policy will always change its colour according to the weather, like a chameleon which constantly nods its head,” he said.
Nyan Win responded however by saying that “it is irresponsible for someone to be already saying something before the decision is made”.
Ludu Sein Win, a Marxist and an outspoken critic of the NLD who began his career on the left-wing Ludu newspaper, said last year that the 2010 elections were unlikely to bring any change in Burma.
Observers have said that the election laws provide further evidence that the polls are little more than attempt to provide legitimacy for the ruling regime as it continues under the guise of a civilian government.
By AYE NAI
Published: 22 March 2010
Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party has kowtowed to the military government for 20 years and has been silent on key issues in the country, a veteran pro-democracy journalist has stated.
In a strongly-worded interview with US-based Burmese multimedia magazine, MoeMaKa, renowned journalist Ludu Sein Win said the party was “no different to…the [pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association]” and blasted its “neglect of all crucial events in Burma”.
He later told DVB that the comment was a reference to the NLD’s silence during the September 2007 monk-led uprising and several other key incidents in recent Burmese history.
“When [farmers] were imprisoned after having their land confiscated in Magwe division, the NLD acted like it had nothing to do with it. It took the same position on the child soldier issue,” he said.
“The group also showed no concern over the tension between the government and the ethnic ceasefire groups such as the [United Wa State Army] and the Kokang army.”
The NLD’s spokesperson, Nyan Win, admitted recently that the party was “in crisis” following the announcement of elections laws that require the expulsion of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi if the party is to run for office.
It is due to announce next week whether it will participate in elections already decried by the party as illegitimate, although Ludu Sein Win appeared in no doubt about the likely decision.
“The NLD will go for the political party registration and enter the elections,” he told MoeMaKa, adding that it was a party “without a policy”.
“A party without a policy will always change its colour according to the weather, like a chameleon which constantly nods its head,” he said.
Nyan Win responded however by saying that “it is irresponsible for someone to be already saying something before the decision is made”.
Ludu Sein Win, a Marxist and an outspoken critic of the NLD who began his career on the left-wing Ludu newspaper, said last year that the 2010 elections were unlikely to bring any change in Burma.
Observers have said that the election laws provide further evidence that the polls are little more than attempt to provide legitimacy for the ruling regime as it continues under the guise of a civilian government.
***********************************************************
DVB News - Junta steps up Kachin militia training
By AKT
Published: 22 March 2010
The Burmese army is reportedly training civilians in the country’s northern Kachin state for government militias as fears mount over the prospect of war with the Kachin ceasefire army.
Burmese troops are also blocking vital trade routes that feed the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), while last week it confiscated more than 30 explosive devices from civilians working under the KIA.
Now government units are moving within close range of the KIA headquarters in the mountains close to Laiza, on the China-Burma border. One troop deployment has established itself at Dawhpumyang village, only 20 kilometers from Laiza.
Burmese army checkpoints on Laiza’s trade route with China are blocking KIA vehicles from delivering goods across the border, and also restricting goods coming in to the group.
As a result the KIA has reportedly recruited civilians to monitor the flow of vehicles, and locals in Kachin state warned recently that the group was also stepping up military preparations in mountainous areas of the region.
But any expansion of the KIA is being countered by the aggressive recruitment of Kachin-based civilians into proxy militias for the Burmese army. Military training is being given at local football pitches in townships around Myitkyina, the Kachin capital.
A local resident told DVB that different groups of people, each 20 to 30-strong, had been trained in morning and afternoon sessions over the course of 10 days, with uniforms provided at the end.
“There are different people among the trainees, such as retired army personnel, [Union Solidarity and Development Association] members and local civilians, as well as former government workers and former ward officials,” he said.
The training includes basic military exercises and the assembling and dissembling of firearms, the resident added. He also speculated that such unprecedented training, largely among the Burman, and not Kachin, population of Myitkyina, could be a sign that the Burmese army was preparing for conflict with the KIA.
The KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), have said they would consider an alternative to demands by the ruling junta to transform into a Border Guard Force (BGF) prior to elections this year.
The group met with senior Burmese army commander Soe Win last week where they discussed the possible conversion of the KIO into a formal political party, whilst resisting BGF proposals that would see it subordinated to the Burmese government.
By AKT
Published: 22 March 2010
The Burmese army is reportedly training civilians in the country’s northern Kachin state for government militias as fears mount over the prospect of war with the Kachin ceasefire army.
Burmese troops are also blocking vital trade routes that feed the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), while last week it confiscated more than 30 explosive devices from civilians working under the KIA.
Now government units are moving within close range of the KIA headquarters in the mountains close to Laiza, on the China-Burma border. One troop deployment has established itself at Dawhpumyang village, only 20 kilometers from Laiza.
Burmese army checkpoints on Laiza’s trade route with China are blocking KIA vehicles from delivering goods across the border, and also restricting goods coming in to the group.
As a result the KIA has reportedly recruited civilians to monitor the flow of vehicles, and locals in Kachin state warned recently that the group was also stepping up military preparations in mountainous areas of the region.
But any expansion of the KIA is being countered by the aggressive recruitment of Kachin-based civilians into proxy militias for the Burmese army. Military training is being given at local football pitches in townships around Myitkyina, the Kachin capital.
A local resident told DVB that different groups of people, each 20 to 30-strong, had been trained in morning and afternoon sessions over the course of 10 days, with uniforms provided at the end.
“There are different people among the trainees, such as retired army personnel, [Union Solidarity and Development Association] members and local civilians, as well as former government workers and former ward officials,” he said.
The training includes basic military exercises and the assembling and dissembling of firearms, the resident added. He also speculated that such unprecedented training, largely among the Burman, and not Kachin, population of Myitkyina, could be a sign that the Burmese army was preparing for conflict with the KIA.
The KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), have said they would consider an alternative to demands by the ruling junta to transform into a Border Guard Force (BGF) prior to elections this year.
The group met with senior Burmese army commander Soe Win last week where they discussed the possible conversion of the KIO into a formal political party, whilst resisting BGF proposals that would see it subordinated to the Burmese government.
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