Philippines presses Myanmar on Suu Kyi, election
By JIM GOMEZ,Associated Press Writer - 2 hours 35 minutes ago
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippines vented its concern to Myanmar's top diplomat Wednesday over pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention and exclusion from upcoming elections but got no hint of any change, a Filipino official said.
Such criticisms are unusual among Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which bars members from intervening in each other's domestic affairs.
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said he raised his concerns about the Nobel Peace laureate during a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart, U Nyan Win, on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement conference in Manila.
"That's their law according to him," Romulo said, referring to Nyan Win's explanation as to why Suu Kyi will be barred from elections later year.
Asked if he was satisfied with Nyan Win's answers, the glum-looking Romulo replied: "He did not say much. If you asked me and I did not say much, will you be satisfied?"
This year's elections in Myanmar will be the first since 1990, when Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory. The junta ignored those results and has kept Suu Kyi jailed or under detention for 14 of the past 20 years. The Philippines has repeatedly called for her release.
An election law announced last week prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party, making Suu Kyi ineligible to become a candidate in the elections or even a member of the party she co-founded and heads.
Suu Kyi was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence. She was sentenced to 18 more months of detention.
Nyan Win ignored a bevy of journalists who hounded the Myanmar diplomat during the Manila conference. But he told The Associated Press that Myanmar's elections chief will announce details about the elections, including the date when it will be held.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who visits Myanmar next month, told reporters in Manila he will inquire about the elections law and repeat his country's appeal that Suu Kyi be freed soon and allowed to participate in the polls.
ASEAN has yet to issue an official reaction to the new elections laws.
By JIM GOMEZ,Associated Press Writer - 2 hours 35 minutes ago
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The Philippines vented its concern to Myanmar's top diplomat Wednesday over pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention and exclusion from upcoming elections but got no hint of any change, a Filipino official said.
Such criticisms are unusual among Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which bars members from intervening in each other's domestic affairs.
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said he raised his concerns about the Nobel Peace laureate during a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart, U Nyan Win, on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement conference in Manila.
"That's their law according to him," Romulo said, referring to Nyan Win's explanation as to why Suu Kyi will be barred from elections later year.
Asked if he was satisfied with Nyan Win's answers, the glum-looking Romulo replied: "He did not say much. If you asked me and I did not say much, will you be satisfied?"
This year's elections in Myanmar will be the first since 1990, when Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory. The junta ignored those results and has kept Suu Kyi jailed or under detention for 14 of the past 20 years. The Philippines has repeatedly called for her release.
An election law announced last week prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party, making Suu Kyi ineligible to become a candidate in the elections or even a member of the party she co-founded and heads.
Suu Kyi was convicted last August of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence. She was sentenced to 18 more months of detention.
Nyan Win ignored a bevy of journalists who hounded the Myanmar diplomat during the Manila conference. But he told The Associated Press that Myanmar's elections chief will announce details about the elections, including the date when it will be held.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who visits Myanmar next month, told reporters in Manila he will inquire about the elections law and repeat his country's appeal that Suu Kyi be freed soon and allowed to participate in the polls.
ASEAN has yet to issue an official reaction to the new elections laws.
********************************************************
Myanmar a gateway for wildlife trade to China: report
Tue Mar 16, 1:01 pm ET
DOHA (AFP) – Demand in China is stoking a black market in neighbouring Myanmar in tiger-bone wine, leopard skins, bear bile and other products made from endangered species, a report released on Tuesday said.
"China's border areas have long been considered a hotbed for illegal trade, with remote locations often making surveillance difficult in sparsely populated areas," Xu Hongfa, top China investigator for environmental group TRAFFIC, said in the report.
Enforcement efforts within China appear to have curtailed the open sale of many animal parts and products taken from species banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), he said.
Market surveys in 18 Western Chinese cities in 2008 found only two sites where tiger and snow leopard skins were on sale, far less than in previous years, said Xu.
But transactions may have simply moved underground and onto the Internet, and Myanmar has emerged as a fast-growing supply node.
"There is clearly ongoing demand for leopard and tiger products, but the trade appears to be becoming less visible year-on-year," Xu said.
"The current trade is more covert, organised and insidious, making it harder to detect and crack down on."
TRAFFIC said that in December 2008, its investigators checked three markets on the Chinese side of the border in Yunnan Province, and one in Mongla, a town in Special Region 4 of Myanmar's Eastern Shan state.
Markets on the Chinese side were legal, but one and a half kilometres (a mile) across the border they found a grim range of wildlife products sold by Chinese merchants.
These included a clouded leopard skin, pieces of elephant skin, batches of bear bile extracted from live animals, a dead silver pheasant, a monitor lizard and a bear paw, which is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
Nearby, another shop specialised in "tiger-bone wine" costing 88 dollars (64 euros) for a small bottle.
The shop owner said buyers were mostly Chinese tourists, and customers could order the supposedly health-boosting tonic by phone for delivery to Daluo, a river-port town in China.
Like China, Myanmar also had national laws forbidding trade in endangered species.
"But enforcement is non-existent in Special Region 4 as it is an autonomous state... controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army," a rebel group, said Xu Ling, the China programme officer for TRAFFIC, who did the survey.
The 175-member CITES, meeting in Qatar's capital Doha until March 25, will review measures to boost enforcement of wildlife bans already in place, as well as proposals to halt or limit commerce in species not yet covered by the Convention.
Tue Mar 16, 1:01 pm ET
DOHA (AFP) – Demand in China is stoking a black market in neighbouring Myanmar in tiger-bone wine, leopard skins, bear bile and other products made from endangered species, a report released on Tuesday said.
"China's border areas have long been considered a hotbed for illegal trade, with remote locations often making surveillance difficult in sparsely populated areas," Xu Hongfa, top China investigator for environmental group TRAFFIC, said in the report.
Enforcement efforts within China appear to have curtailed the open sale of many animal parts and products taken from species banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), he said.
Market surveys in 18 Western Chinese cities in 2008 found only two sites where tiger and snow leopard skins were on sale, far less than in previous years, said Xu.
But transactions may have simply moved underground and onto the Internet, and Myanmar has emerged as a fast-growing supply node.
"There is clearly ongoing demand for leopard and tiger products, but the trade appears to be becoming less visible year-on-year," Xu said.
"The current trade is more covert, organised and insidious, making it harder to detect and crack down on."
TRAFFIC said that in December 2008, its investigators checked three markets on the Chinese side of the border in Yunnan Province, and one in Mongla, a town in Special Region 4 of Myanmar's Eastern Shan state.
Markets on the Chinese side were legal, but one and a half kilometres (a mile) across the border they found a grim range of wildlife products sold by Chinese merchants.
These included a clouded leopard skin, pieces of elephant skin, batches of bear bile extracted from live animals, a dead silver pheasant, a monitor lizard and a bear paw, which is considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
Nearby, another shop specialised in "tiger-bone wine" costing 88 dollars (64 euros) for a small bottle.
The shop owner said buyers were mostly Chinese tourists, and customers could order the supposedly health-boosting tonic by phone for delivery to Daluo, a river-port town in China.
Like China, Myanmar also had national laws forbidding trade in endangered species.
"But enforcement is non-existent in Special Region 4 as it is an autonomous state... controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army," a rebel group, said Xu Ling, the China programme officer for TRAFFIC, who did the survey.
The 175-member CITES, meeting in Qatar's capital Doha until March 25, will review measures to boost enforcement of wildlife bans already in place, as well as proposals to halt or limit commerce in species not yet covered by the Convention.
********************************************************
Despite crackdown on monks, Myanmar pledges tolerance
22 mins ago
MANILA (AFP) – Myanmar on Wednesday pledged to promote a culture of tolerance, despite international outrage over an appalling human rights record that includes its crackdown on Buddhist monks.
"We are committed to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and dialogue," Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Manila.
"I hardly need to stress the importance of harbouring mutual respect among people of different faiths," he stressed.
"If we fail to show respect and discriminate against other religions, conflicts and tensions among peoples will linger on.
"We fully agree that tolerance is a fundamental value of international relations," he said.
However, Myanmar remains an international pariah over its continuing crackdown on Buddhist monks and opposition members.
In a report late last year, Human Rights Watch said as many as 240 monks had been jailed in Myanmar, with thousands of others defrocked or living in fear of arrest for their role in mass demonstrations in 2007.
The rights group said as many as 2,200 political dissidents were in detention in Myanmar.
Myanmar also recently provoked international anger after the ruling junta passed laws effectively preventing Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in elections this year.
In a meeting scheduled with Nyan Win later Wednesday, Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto Romulo is expected to criticise the laws and call for their repeal.
Nyan Win side-stepped the issue, saying that the discussions with Romulo would focus only on bilateral relations.
Romulo said earlier he would urge the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which both Myanmar and the Philippines belong, to call for a reversal of Myanmar's decree, at the bloc's annual summit in Vietnam next month.
ASEAN, which groups 10 nations, maintains a policy of non-interference in its members' affairs. But that has slowly begun to erode in recent years, with the Philippines taking the lead in criticising Myanmar's junta.
22 mins ago
MANILA (AFP) – Myanmar on Wednesday pledged to promote a culture of tolerance, despite international outrage over an appalling human rights record that includes its crackdown on Buddhist monks.
"We are committed to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and dialogue," Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Manila.
"I hardly need to stress the importance of harbouring mutual respect among people of different faiths," he stressed.
"If we fail to show respect and discriminate against other religions, conflicts and tensions among peoples will linger on.
"We fully agree that tolerance is a fundamental value of international relations," he said.
However, Myanmar remains an international pariah over its continuing crackdown on Buddhist monks and opposition members.
In a report late last year, Human Rights Watch said as many as 240 monks had been jailed in Myanmar, with thousands of others defrocked or living in fear of arrest for their role in mass demonstrations in 2007.
The rights group said as many as 2,200 political dissidents were in detention in Myanmar.
Myanmar also recently provoked international anger after the ruling junta passed laws effectively preventing Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in elections this year.
In a meeting scheduled with Nyan Win later Wednesday, Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto Romulo is expected to criticise the laws and call for their repeal.
Nyan Win side-stepped the issue, saying that the discussions with Romulo would focus only on bilateral relations.
Romulo said earlier he would urge the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which both Myanmar and the Philippines belong, to call for a reversal of Myanmar's decree, at the bloc's annual summit in Vietnam next month.
ASEAN, which groups 10 nations, maintains a policy of non-interference in its members' affairs. But that has slowly begun to erode in recent years, with the Philippines taking the lead in criticising Myanmar's junta.
********************************************************
EarthTimes - Myanmar rejects call to rescind law disqualifying Suu Kyi
Posted : Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:33:08 GMT
Manila - Myanmar's foreign minister on Wednesday rejected the Philippines' call for the ruling military junta to rescind a new law that disqualifies opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in national elections planned this year. Nyan Win met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement's meeting on interfaith dialogue in Manila.
Romulo said he was disappointed with the meeting because Nyan Win "didn't talk much."
"He was just listening," Romulo told reporters after the closed-door meeting in which he reiterated the Philippines' call for Myanmar to revoke the law announced last week.
"He told me that that was the law," Romulo said.
The new election law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party or a candidate in the elections.
The law makes Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 21 years under house arrest, ineligible to run for the elections not yet scheduled but expected later this year.
The new decree would also prevent Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party from contesting the elections, even with another candidate, as long as she remains on its membership rolls, according to a party spokesman.
Romulo said Myanmar should live up to its commitment to institute political reforms in the country.
"The road map to democracy is Myanmar's pledge to the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] and to the world," he said. "We are just asking them to implement their own road map to democracy"
Romulo said any election in Myanmar would only be credible if it "includes everybody."
He said he would urge ASEAN foreign ministers to press Myanmar to withdraw the law when they meet in Vietnam on April 8.
The Philippines and Myanmar are members of ASEAN, which has often been criticised for failing to exert more influence over Yangon to implement democratic reforms.
Posted : Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:33:08 GMT
Manila - Myanmar's foreign minister on Wednesday rejected the Philippines' call for the ruling military junta to rescind a new law that disqualifies opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in national elections planned this year. Nyan Win met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement's meeting on interfaith dialogue in Manila.
Romulo said he was disappointed with the meeting because Nyan Win "didn't talk much."
"He was just listening," Romulo told reporters after the closed-door meeting in which he reiterated the Philippines' call for Myanmar to revoke the law announced last week.
"He told me that that was the law," Romulo said.
The new election law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party or a candidate in the elections.
The law makes Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 21 years under house arrest, ineligible to run for the elections not yet scheduled but expected later this year.
The new decree would also prevent Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party from contesting the elections, even with another candidate, as long as she remains on its membership rolls, according to a party spokesman.
Romulo said Myanmar should live up to its commitment to institute political reforms in the country.
"The road map to democracy is Myanmar's pledge to the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] and to the world," he said. "We are just asking them to implement their own road map to democracy"
Romulo said any election in Myanmar would only be credible if it "includes everybody."
He said he would urge ASEAN foreign ministers to press Myanmar to withdraw the law when they meet in Vietnam on April 8.
The Philippines and Myanmar are members of ASEAN, which has often been criticised for failing to exert more influence over Yangon to implement democratic reforms.
********************************************************
MYANMAR: Bid at new political era faces capacity challenge
YANGON, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - A lack of capacity on several levels is likely to hamper Myanmar’s bid to change its political structure, diplomats and analysts say.
The military government this month took another step on the "roadmap" for what it says will be a transition to democracy when it unveiled laws for an election later this year, the country's first in two decades.
The government has said the roadmap, launched in August 2003, will lead to a "discipline-flourishing democracy".
Among the changes to be made will be the creation of a presidential system of government, a bicameral legislature and 14 regional governments and assemblies, which the International Crisis Group describes as “the most wide-ranging shake-up in a generation”.
But given the military's reluctance to relinquish its grip on power and the long suppression of democratic activity in Myanmar, diplomats say the transition will face significant challenges - one of the most critical being whether the public service has the capacity to sustain the change.
A top-down decision-making process and limited development assistance and exposure to capacity-building programmes are among the factors that would hamper the ability of the public service to sustain a transition.
"There is obviously insufficient bureaucratic capacity in Myanmar today to manage and implement a 'transition to democracy'," Trevor Wilson, the Australian ambassador to Myanmar from 2000 to 2003, told IRIN.
Lack of experience
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, when military commander Ne Win seized power in a coup.
The lack of experience with a genuine parliamentary government since has contributed to a situation where "democratic processes of decision-making - involving open public debate, meaningful consultation, and responsive and caring structures - were almost unknown”, said Wilson.
"These processes cannot be introduced overnight, but need to be learned and practised," he said.
"There are some excellent officials, with good technical knowledge and experience," said a British diplomat based in Yangon. "But the worry is that this is an ageing demographic, close to retirement," said the diplomat, who requested anonymity in line with British government policy.
"The younger generations, whilst committed and with a level of expertise, have lower qualifications and less experience or exposure," the diplomat said.
Centralised decision-making
Myanmar is ruled by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), where power is concentrated in a group of high-ranking military officials who maintain tight control over political decisions.
"The structure of decision-making, highly centralised, also has an impact on the effectiveness of the public service as a whole, and the ability and morale of individuals within a structure that does not encourage personal responsibility or initiative," said the British envoy.
Another Yangon-based diplomat said that while the public service had well-developed administrative processes, "considerable developmental support" in basic areas such as parliamentary services, public sector budgeting and policy development and application would be needed.
"Policy is issued in the form of orders and therefore tends not to have the benefit of cross-ministry coordinated consultation to ensure that the law itself is not in conflict with other policy areas," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Sanctions and international support
Unrealized public sector capacity is mainly due to chronic under-investment in education, but the withdrawal of international financial institutions (IFIs) has also hampered reform efforts.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1996 and the US a year later, while international assistance has been restricted mostly to humanitarian programmes.
The persecution of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - who has spent about 14 of the last 20 years in detention - and the harassment of her pro-democracy party, were the underlying rationale for the move.
"The system is badly in need of restructuring and this can really only come about with exposure, technical advice and financial input," said the British diplomat.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank blocked development lending to Myanmar as part of western sanctions, while senior officials only had limited contact with the organizations and opportunities to train and learn, said Wilson.
"Sanctionshave made a bad situation worse by cutting off much normal contact and exchange with democracies," he said.
David Steinberg, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, said the gap created by the absence of IFI training programmes should have been taken up by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member.
ASEAN "would be the logical place to have them and they should have begun long ago", Steinberg said.
But while sanctions are a factor, "the blame has also and fundamentally to be placed on the Burmese administration, which through thought control, censorship, and fear of alternative ideas has stifled creative thinking and scholarship", he said.
YANGON, 17 March 2010 (IRIN) - A lack of capacity on several levels is likely to hamper Myanmar’s bid to change its political structure, diplomats and analysts say.
The military government this month took another step on the "roadmap" for what it says will be a transition to democracy when it unveiled laws for an election later this year, the country's first in two decades.
The government has said the roadmap, launched in August 2003, will lead to a "discipline-flourishing democracy".
Among the changes to be made will be the creation of a presidential system of government, a bicameral legislature and 14 regional governments and assemblies, which the International Crisis Group describes as “the most wide-ranging shake-up in a generation”.
But given the military's reluctance to relinquish its grip on power and the long suppression of democratic activity in Myanmar, diplomats say the transition will face significant challenges - one of the most critical being whether the public service has the capacity to sustain the change.
A top-down decision-making process and limited development assistance and exposure to capacity-building programmes are among the factors that would hamper the ability of the public service to sustain a transition.
"There is obviously insufficient bureaucratic capacity in Myanmar today to manage and implement a 'transition to democracy'," Trevor Wilson, the Australian ambassador to Myanmar from 2000 to 2003, told IRIN.
Lack of experience
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, when military commander Ne Win seized power in a coup.
The lack of experience with a genuine parliamentary government since has contributed to a situation where "democratic processes of decision-making - involving open public debate, meaningful consultation, and responsive and caring structures - were almost unknown”, said Wilson.
"These processes cannot be introduced overnight, but need to be learned and practised," he said.
"There are some excellent officials, with good technical knowledge and experience," said a British diplomat based in Yangon. "But the worry is that this is an ageing demographic, close to retirement," said the diplomat, who requested anonymity in line with British government policy.
"The younger generations, whilst committed and with a level of expertise, have lower qualifications and less experience or exposure," the diplomat said.
Centralised decision-making
Myanmar is ruled by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), where power is concentrated in a group of high-ranking military officials who maintain tight control over political decisions.
"The structure of decision-making, highly centralised, also has an impact on the effectiveness of the public service as a whole, and the ability and morale of individuals within a structure that does not encourage personal responsibility or initiative," said the British envoy.
Another Yangon-based diplomat said that while the public service had well-developed administrative processes, "considerable developmental support" in basic areas such as parliamentary services, public sector budgeting and policy development and application would be needed.
"Policy is issued in the form of orders and therefore tends not to have the benefit of cross-ministry coordinated consultation to ensure that the law itself is not in conflict with other policy areas," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Sanctions and international support
Unrealized public sector capacity is mainly due to chronic under-investment in education, but the withdrawal of international financial institutions (IFIs) has also hampered reform efforts.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1996 and the US a year later, while international assistance has been restricted mostly to humanitarian programmes.
The persecution of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - who has spent about 14 of the last 20 years in detention - and the harassment of her pro-democracy party, were the underlying rationale for the move.
"The system is badly in need of restructuring and this can really only come about with exposure, technical advice and financial input," said the British diplomat.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank blocked development lending to Myanmar as part of western sanctions, while senior officials only had limited contact with the organizations and opportunities to train and learn, said Wilson.
"Sanctionshave made a bad situation worse by cutting off much normal contact and exchange with democracies," he said.
David Steinberg, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, said the gap created by the absence of IFI training programmes should have been taken up by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member.
ASEAN "would be the logical place to have them and they should have begun long ago", Steinberg said.
But while sanctions are a factor, "the blame has also and fundamentally to be placed on the Burmese administration, which through thought control, censorship, and fear of alternative ideas has stifled creative thinking and scholarship", he said.
********************************************************
Philippine Star - Romulo not satisfied with Myanmar FM's explanation on law
Updated March 17, 2010 11:00 PM
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo on Wednesday said he was not satisfied with the outcome of his meeting with Myanmar's Foreign Minister when he sought for the official's explanation on a law that will ban opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the country's national polls planned this year.
Romulo said Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win "didn't talk much " on the issue when he met him at the sidelines of the special Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting on interfaith cooperation.
"He was just listening. He didn't say much so if you ask me and you didn't say much will you be satisfied?" Romulo told reporters in a chance interview.
"He told me that that was the law," he added.
Asked if he urged the government of Myanmar to recall the law, Romulo said: "It's not asked but it was our statement. She should be included and she was included before and in fact she won overwhelmingly."
Romulo said Myanmar should live up to its commitment to institute reforms in the country.
"We've been saying this all along that the roadmap to democracy is Myanmar's pledge to the Association of South East Asian Nations and to the world and that were just asking them to implement their own roadmap to democracy which is all inclusive and includes everybody and that it will be fair and free," he said.
The Political Parties Registration Law prohibits any convicted lawbreaker from being in a political party and run for public office.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, who has spent more than 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was convicted last year for violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man illegally swam across a lake to her waterfront villa and sneaked into her compound for two nights. She was sentenced to three years of hard labor but the court "mitigated" the sentence to 18 months of house arrest.
Romulo said he will urge other Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers to press Myanmar to withdraw the law when they meet at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 8.
But ASEAN has a standing policy of non-interference in members' domestic affairs.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Amid opposition from the West, ASEAN supported the entry of Myanmar into the grouping as its 10th member in 1997.
Updated March 17, 2010 11:00 PM
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo on Wednesday said he was not satisfied with the outcome of his meeting with Myanmar's Foreign Minister when he sought for the official's explanation on a law that will ban opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the country's national polls planned this year.
Romulo said Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win "didn't talk much " on the issue when he met him at the sidelines of the special Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting on interfaith cooperation.
"He was just listening. He didn't say much so if you ask me and you didn't say much will you be satisfied?" Romulo told reporters in a chance interview.
"He told me that that was the law," he added.
Asked if he urged the government of Myanmar to recall the law, Romulo said: "It's not asked but it was our statement. She should be included and she was included before and in fact she won overwhelmingly."
Romulo said Myanmar should live up to its commitment to institute reforms in the country.
"We've been saying this all along that the roadmap to democracy is Myanmar's pledge to the Association of South East Asian Nations and to the world and that were just asking them to implement their own roadmap to democracy which is all inclusive and includes everybody and that it will be fair and free," he said.
The Political Parties Registration Law prohibits any convicted lawbreaker from being in a political party and run for public office.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, who has spent more than 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was convicted last year for violating the terms of her house arrest after an American man illegally swam across a lake to her waterfront villa and sneaked into her compound for two nights. She was sentenced to three years of hard labor but the court "mitigated" the sentence to 18 months of house arrest.
Romulo said he will urge other Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers to press Myanmar to withdraw the law when they meet at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 8.
But ASEAN has a standing policy of non-interference in members' domestic affairs.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Amid opposition from the West, ASEAN supported the entry of Myanmar into the grouping as its 10th member in 1997.
********************************************************
Myanmar's opium crop steady hand on the till
But who is to blame for the spike in cultivation?
Mar 16th 2010 | CHIANG RAI | From The Economist online
IN THE mountains of Myanmar's strife-torn Shan state, the colourful blossom of opium poppies has become a more frequent sight of late. A businessman based in the Shan state notes that the flowers now bloom more freely in areas under the control of the ruling junta than in the shrinking zones held by local rebels.
Increased opium cultivation and Myanmar’s unceasing export of heroin suggests that the army and their proxy militias are becoming more involved in the “Golden Triangle” drug trade.
This coincides with the army’s renewed efforts to force the rebels in this part of the country, who signed a series of ceasefire agreements in the early 1990s, to surrender—or, alternatively, to be integrated into official border units under the junta’s control. These rebels tend to be organised according to ethnicity. Both the Kachin Independent Army and the United Wa State Army (the UWSA), two of the groups with ceasefire accords, are insisting on keeping some degree of autonomy. Unless a new agreement can be reached, the ceasefires are in danger of failing—an outcome that China, which shares a long border with the Shan state, would like to avert.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) publishes an annual survey on opium in Myanmar as part of its larger “Opium Poppy Cultivation in South-East Asia” report. The most recent, from December 2009, shows that cultivation has increased dramatically: by nearly 50% since 2006. This despite the free-for-all in Afghanistan which has turned that country into a market giant, driving down global prices and making it harder for producers elsewhere to compete. Yet more than 1m people in Myanmar are now involved in producing opium, up 27% from the year before.
The Palaung Women’s Organisation (PWO), an NGO that conducted an undercover survey in the Shan state, has published a report with a different emphasis. Theirs describes the role played by the pro-government militias who have, it says, displaced the rebel groups from the intensive cultivation of opium poppies. The poorly paid regular army and its militias count on drug money to boost their salaries, just as the warlords of the Wa had long done.
The UNODC has it instead “that opium-poppy cultivation took place in areas controlled by insurgency and by ceasefire groups”. While launching the most recent annual report, the UNODC’s executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, seemed to attribute the surge in opium cultivation exclusively to “the ceasefire groups—the autonomous ethnic militias like the Wa and the Kachin—[who] are selling drugs to buy weapons.”
The UN agency’s conclusion is at odds with other reports from NGOs and independent observers. Tom Kramer, a researcher who studies the opium trade in the Golden Triangle for the Transnational Institute, says he is sceptical of any report that assigns blame to a single side of the political conflict. Under strong pressure from China, various bans on opium-growing have been established in areas under the control of the Wa and Kokang ethnic armies.
The PWO’s report questions several of the UNODC’s findings. It cites the opium survey’s use of a map which shows two ethnic armed groups, including the PSLA (Palaung State Liberation Army), which signed a ceasefire, enjoying control of a major opium-growing area around the Mantong and Namkham townships of the Shan state. The map, which was supplied by Myanmar’s authorities, ignores the fact that the PSLA in fact surrendered to the army back in 2005.
The UNODC admits to relying on Myanmar’s authorities for data and information on narcotics, and especially drug eradication. As Gary Lewis, the UNODC’s regional director based in Bangkok, acknowledges: “We can’t rule out that the map is out of date or contains an error.”
The UNODC’s report also fails to mention the activity of a pro-government militia group from Monghsat township. Operating out of Punako village, just over the border from Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, this militia exerts complete control over local opium fields. The Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalions 553 and 554 are reported to be stationed just outside Punako.
Academics have cast doubt on the UNODC’s research; Mr Kramer says that their crop-monitoring data are inherently unreliable. Others have asked whether the agency actually tries to verify any of the information supplied by Myanmar’s police and army—which are, after all, the security apparatus of one of the world’s least transparent regimes.
Lway Aye Nang of the PWO says that “the Burmese militias set up by local authorities loyal to the junta are in full control. I don’t think the UN has ever been to our area.” The armed groups that profit by opium-farming there are, in her eyes, proxies of the state and have been for years.
Not that the Chinese-brokered ban on the cultivation of poppies has prevented the UWSA from maintaining a lucrative stake in the drug trade. Rebel Wa continue to manufacture and export heroin and methamphetamines to neighbouring countries, including China, Thailand and Laos.
As for the fields from which most of the raw material of this trade grows, a former UN drug-monitoring expert in Yangon remarked that “there is no possibility of eradicating opium-poppy cultivation unless there is peace and security.” Perversely, with a steady flow of drug money financing militias on all sides of the Shan state’s stalemate, there seems little chance of forging a peace.
But who is to blame for the spike in cultivation?
Mar 16th 2010 | CHIANG RAI | From The Economist online
IN THE mountains of Myanmar's strife-torn Shan state, the colourful blossom of opium poppies has become a more frequent sight of late. A businessman based in the Shan state notes that the flowers now bloom more freely in areas under the control of the ruling junta than in the shrinking zones held by local rebels.
Increased opium cultivation and Myanmar’s unceasing export of heroin suggests that the army and their proxy militias are becoming more involved in the “Golden Triangle” drug trade.
This coincides with the army’s renewed efforts to force the rebels in this part of the country, who signed a series of ceasefire agreements in the early 1990s, to surrender—or, alternatively, to be integrated into official border units under the junta’s control. These rebels tend to be organised according to ethnicity. Both the Kachin Independent Army and the United Wa State Army (the UWSA), two of the groups with ceasefire accords, are insisting on keeping some degree of autonomy. Unless a new agreement can be reached, the ceasefires are in danger of failing—an outcome that China, which shares a long border with the Shan state, would like to avert.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) publishes an annual survey on opium in Myanmar as part of its larger “Opium Poppy Cultivation in South-East Asia” report. The most recent, from December 2009, shows that cultivation has increased dramatically: by nearly 50% since 2006. This despite the free-for-all in Afghanistan which has turned that country into a market giant, driving down global prices and making it harder for producers elsewhere to compete. Yet more than 1m people in Myanmar are now involved in producing opium, up 27% from the year before.
The Palaung Women’s Organisation (PWO), an NGO that conducted an undercover survey in the Shan state, has published a report with a different emphasis. Theirs describes the role played by the pro-government militias who have, it says, displaced the rebel groups from the intensive cultivation of opium poppies. The poorly paid regular army and its militias count on drug money to boost their salaries, just as the warlords of the Wa had long done.
The UNODC has it instead “that opium-poppy cultivation took place in areas controlled by insurgency and by ceasefire groups”. While launching the most recent annual report, the UNODC’s executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, seemed to attribute the surge in opium cultivation exclusively to “the ceasefire groups—the autonomous ethnic militias like the Wa and the Kachin—[who] are selling drugs to buy weapons.”
The UN agency’s conclusion is at odds with other reports from NGOs and independent observers. Tom Kramer, a researcher who studies the opium trade in the Golden Triangle for the Transnational Institute, says he is sceptical of any report that assigns blame to a single side of the political conflict. Under strong pressure from China, various bans on opium-growing have been established in areas under the control of the Wa and Kokang ethnic armies.
The PWO’s report questions several of the UNODC’s findings. It cites the opium survey’s use of a map which shows two ethnic armed groups, including the PSLA (Palaung State Liberation Army), which signed a ceasefire, enjoying control of a major opium-growing area around the Mantong and Namkham townships of the Shan state. The map, which was supplied by Myanmar’s authorities, ignores the fact that the PSLA in fact surrendered to the army back in 2005.
The UNODC admits to relying on Myanmar’s authorities for data and information on narcotics, and especially drug eradication. As Gary Lewis, the UNODC’s regional director based in Bangkok, acknowledges: “We can’t rule out that the map is out of date or contains an error.”
The UNODC’s report also fails to mention the activity of a pro-government militia group from Monghsat township. Operating out of Punako village, just over the border from Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, this militia exerts complete control over local opium fields. The Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalions 553 and 554 are reported to be stationed just outside Punako.
Academics have cast doubt on the UNODC’s research; Mr Kramer says that their crop-monitoring data are inherently unreliable. Others have asked whether the agency actually tries to verify any of the information supplied by Myanmar’s police and army—which are, after all, the security apparatus of one of the world’s least transparent regimes.
Lway Aye Nang of the PWO says that “the Burmese militias set up by local authorities loyal to the junta are in full control. I don’t think the UN has ever been to our area.” The armed groups that profit by opium-farming there are, in her eyes, proxies of the state and have been for years.
Not that the Chinese-brokered ban on the cultivation of poppies has prevented the UWSA from maintaining a lucrative stake in the drug trade. Rebel Wa continue to manufacture and export heroin and methamphetamines to neighbouring countries, including China, Thailand and Laos.
As for the fields from which most of the raw material of this trade grows, a former UN drug-monitoring expert in Yangon remarked that “there is no possibility of eradicating opium-poppy cultivation unless there is peace and security.” Perversely, with a steady flow of drug money financing militias on all sides of the Shan state’s stalemate, there seems little chance of forging a peace.
********************************************************
NumisMaster - Barter Economy Returns to Myanmar
By Richard Giedroyc, World Coin News
March 16, 2010
Most people living outside Myanmar would agree the Southeast Asian nation is living in the dark ages.
Faced with a critical currency shortage the nation known formerly as Burma is proving this to be true, with a barter economy quickly displacing a cash economy due to an extreme shortage of bank notes coupled with virtually no coins in circulation.
Myanmar is a backward country ruled by a repressive military junta government. Although officially its kyat currency is valued at 5.5 to the U.S. dollar, in fact domestic consumer prices rose by an average of 24 percent a year between 2005 and 2009, according to a Feb. 10 Reuters news agency report.
Debit and credit cards don’t exist. Checks are seldom accepted. Although the government announced a new issue of 50- and 100-kyat coins would be released in late 2008 none are seen in circulation. Low denomination bank notes are in short supply and typically circulate in ragged condition, while according to Reuters and other reporting agencies it now appears the government has ceased printing even the highest denomination 5,000-kyat bank note.
Myanmar has not released data on the amount of money in circulation since fiscal year 1996-1997, when the amount in circulation was valued at 179.82 billion kyat. A Reuters request for more recent data met with the official response, “We cannot tell you. It’s a state secret.”
“Officially there are 13 denominations of notes in circulation – starting from 50 pya (one cent) up to 5,000 kyat. But only the three big notes (200, 500 and 1,000 kyat) are common. The rest are growing scarcer by the month,” Reuters reported.
A March 8, 2009, “Today in Myanmar” story stated, “Coins are extremely rare to find in Myanmar. The rarity of coins makes it a collector’s item as many street vendors in Yangon try to sell these coins and old kyat notes to foreigners.”
According to late 2008 Myanmar newspaper reports, the 50- and 100-kyat coins nobody seems to ever see each depict the traditional Burmese lion on the obverse, with the Naypvidaw Lotus Fountain on the reverse of the 50 kyat and the denomination value on the reverse of the 100 kyat. The 50 kyat is composed of copper, while the 100 kyat is composed of copper-nickel.
Regarding the notes in circulation, “Today in Myanmar” says: “One thing that strikes you when you arrived to Myanmar is the old, dirty, and worn out currency notes. Most small value kyat notes are very old, extremely dirty, and totally worn out with a lot of tears.”
The 5,000-kyat denomination was introduced Oct. 1, 2009, by the Central Bank of Myanmar, but the new denomination was met with cynicism rather than being welcomed. Although some people found it easier to carry one large denomination note rather than a sack of small denomination notes, others saw it as nothing more than fuel for inflation. The local black market reacted with an increase in the value of the dollar against the kyat.
According to “Today in Myanmar,” “The only way to buy things in Myanmar is to carry a large bag full of 1,000-kyat notes. To buy a car or a land you will have to carry a large bag full of currency notes, and it will take eternity to count all the money. Sometimes business people carry money in large plastic or cloth bags, a kind of bag used to carry things in supermarkets or in shops.”
The Feb. 10 Reuters report added, “In Sittwe, the capital of [the] western Rakhine state, teashop owners manufacture their own coupons to use as currency.”
Reuters quoted teashop owner Ko Aung Knine as saying, “It’s far more convenient to use these self-circulated notes instead of small items,” adding, “but you need to make sure coupons can’t be forged. Mostly we use a computer to print it with the name of the shop, face value, and signature of the shop owner.”
There have been reports that in the city of Yangon 100 kyat (about 10 cents US) in value is being bartered for a sachet of coffee mix or for a small container of shampoo, while a single cigarette, a piece of candy, or a packet of tissues may be bartered for 50 kyat (about 5 cents US) in value.
Money in modern Myanmar has been unusual for some time. During the socialist era bank notes were outlawed. On Nov. 10, 1985 it outlawed the 50- and 100-kyat bank notes, eventually allowing these denominations to be exchanged for new notes in the unwieldy denominations of 15, 25, 35, 45, and 75 kyat. Two years later these newer notes were outlawed, this time without any opportunity being given to exchange the existing notes for newer notes in denominations of 45 and 90 kyat. This was one of the reasons for the popular uprising of 1988 that ousted that government.
Today it appears the government has simply stopped printing bank notes while not bothering to explain why the announced coins have never materialized. An unnamed “retired economist from Yangon University” told Reuters, “So far as I know, they [Central Bank of Myanmar] print only 1,000 kyat notes now. The cost of printing is far higher than the face value of most small notes ... so they now print just the biggest ones.”
By Richard Giedroyc, World Coin News
March 16, 2010
Most people living outside Myanmar would agree the Southeast Asian nation is living in the dark ages.
Faced with a critical currency shortage the nation known formerly as Burma is proving this to be true, with a barter economy quickly displacing a cash economy due to an extreme shortage of bank notes coupled with virtually no coins in circulation.
Myanmar is a backward country ruled by a repressive military junta government. Although officially its kyat currency is valued at 5.5 to the U.S. dollar, in fact domestic consumer prices rose by an average of 24 percent a year between 2005 and 2009, according to a Feb. 10 Reuters news agency report.
Debit and credit cards don’t exist. Checks are seldom accepted. Although the government announced a new issue of 50- and 100-kyat coins would be released in late 2008 none are seen in circulation. Low denomination bank notes are in short supply and typically circulate in ragged condition, while according to Reuters and other reporting agencies it now appears the government has ceased printing even the highest denomination 5,000-kyat bank note.
Myanmar has not released data on the amount of money in circulation since fiscal year 1996-1997, when the amount in circulation was valued at 179.82 billion kyat. A Reuters request for more recent data met with the official response, “We cannot tell you. It’s a state secret.”
“Officially there are 13 denominations of notes in circulation – starting from 50 pya (one cent) up to 5,000 kyat. But only the three big notes (200, 500 and 1,000 kyat) are common. The rest are growing scarcer by the month,” Reuters reported.
A March 8, 2009, “Today in Myanmar” story stated, “Coins are extremely rare to find in Myanmar. The rarity of coins makes it a collector’s item as many street vendors in Yangon try to sell these coins and old kyat notes to foreigners.”
According to late 2008 Myanmar newspaper reports, the 50- and 100-kyat coins nobody seems to ever see each depict the traditional Burmese lion on the obverse, with the Naypvidaw Lotus Fountain on the reverse of the 50 kyat and the denomination value on the reverse of the 100 kyat. The 50 kyat is composed of copper, while the 100 kyat is composed of copper-nickel.
Regarding the notes in circulation, “Today in Myanmar” says: “One thing that strikes you when you arrived to Myanmar is the old, dirty, and worn out currency notes. Most small value kyat notes are very old, extremely dirty, and totally worn out with a lot of tears.”
The 5,000-kyat denomination was introduced Oct. 1, 2009, by the Central Bank of Myanmar, but the new denomination was met with cynicism rather than being welcomed. Although some people found it easier to carry one large denomination note rather than a sack of small denomination notes, others saw it as nothing more than fuel for inflation. The local black market reacted with an increase in the value of the dollar against the kyat.
According to “Today in Myanmar,” “The only way to buy things in Myanmar is to carry a large bag full of 1,000-kyat notes. To buy a car or a land you will have to carry a large bag full of currency notes, and it will take eternity to count all the money. Sometimes business people carry money in large plastic or cloth bags, a kind of bag used to carry things in supermarkets or in shops.”
The Feb. 10 Reuters report added, “In Sittwe, the capital of [the] western Rakhine state, teashop owners manufacture their own coupons to use as currency.”
Reuters quoted teashop owner Ko Aung Knine as saying, “It’s far more convenient to use these self-circulated notes instead of small items,” adding, “but you need to make sure coupons can’t be forged. Mostly we use a computer to print it with the name of the shop, face value, and signature of the shop owner.”
There have been reports that in the city of Yangon 100 kyat (about 10 cents US) in value is being bartered for a sachet of coffee mix or for a small container of shampoo, while a single cigarette, a piece of candy, or a packet of tissues may be bartered for 50 kyat (about 5 cents US) in value.
Money in modern Myanmar has been unusual for some time. During the socialist era bank notes were outlawed. On Nov. 10, 1985 it outlawed the 50- and 100-kyat bank notes, eventually allowing these denominations to be exchanged for new notes in the unwieldy denominations of 15, 25, 35, 45, and 75 kyat. Two years later these newer notes were outlawed, this time without any opportunity being given to exchange the existing notes for newer notes in denominations of 45 and 90 kyat. This was one of the reasons for the popular uprising of 1988 that ousted that government.
Today it appears the government has simply stopped printing bank notes while not bothering to explain why the announced coins have never materialized. An unnamed “retired economist from Yangon University” told Reuters, “So far as I know, they [Central Bank of Myanmar] print only 1,000 kyat notes now. The cost of printing is far higher than the face value of most small notes ... so they now print just the biggest ones.”
********************************************************
Hyundai Heavy to Win 79% More Oil, Gas Orders in 2010
By Kyunghee Park
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. expects to win at least 79 percent more oil and gas equipment orders this year as the world’s biggest shipyard reduces its dependency on shipbuilding.
“There is a chance we could exceed our order target” of about $4.2 billion, Kang Chang June, executive vice president of Hyundai Heavy’s offshore and engineering division, said in an interview at the company’s Ulsan, South Korea headquarters yesterday. Net income from the division is expected to be similar to last year’s figure of 300 billion won ($265 million) to 400 billion won, he said.
Hyundai Heavy has already achieved more than half its 2010 offshore order target as oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Petroleo Brasileiro SA boost investment in drilling and floating production equipment to support wider exploration. The Korean company is targeting oil and gas as overcapacity and Chinese competition sap ship orders.
“Offshore is definitely the business to be in,” said Kim Hyun, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. “Demand is going to increase because production at existing wells is declining and fuel demand is growing.”
Hyundai Heavy is bidding or preparing to bid for projects in areas including the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, Kang said. Brazil has also become a focus for rigmakers as state- controlled Petrobras plans to order 58 drilling rigs, mainly from local yards, through 2018. The company is developing the Tupi field, which may hold as much as 8 million barrels of oil.
Brazil Venture
Hyundai Heavy has agreed to acquire a 10 percent stake in EBX Brasil SA’s shipyard unit to target contracts from Petrobras, which plans to spend $174.4 billion in the five years through 2013 to help tap offshore fields. The shipbuilder may eventually increase this holding, Kang said.
“Brazil has the natural resources and we expect orders to come through but it will take some time,” he said. “That’s why we don’t have plans to build a production facility there.”
Sembcorp Marine Ltd., the world’s second-biggest maker of shallow-water oil rigs, said last month it plans to open a new yard in Brazil. Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world’s second-largest shipyard, in June 2008 bought a 10 percent stake in Estaleiro Atlantico Sul.
Hyundai Heavy climbed 2 percent in Seoul trading to 232,500 won, the highest close in almost 10 months. The stock has advanced 23 percent in the past year, compared with a 45 percent climb for South Korea’s Kospi index.
The shipyard aims to win a total of $17.7 billion worth of contracts this year, an increase of 65 percent from 2009. It posted a net income of 2.15 trillion won last year, 4.9 percent less than a year earlier.
Eni Order
The company last month won a $1.2 billion order to build a floating production, storage and offloading vessel for Eni SpA, Italy’s biggest oil and gas company. The yard will also build a gas platform and pipelines valued at $1.4 billion for Daewoo International Corp. in Myanmar.
Investments in floating production facilities are expected to reach as much as $9 billion annually until 2013, according to Hyundai Heavy.
Shell, vying with BP as Europe’s biggest oil company, said yesterday that it plans to spend more than $100 billion by 2014 to revive production growth. The company is assessing more than 35 projects that may add 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources. Oil traded above $82 in New York today.
Hyundai Heavy is also aiming to build more onshore gas and chemical plants, where it is using block-building systems used to make ships to lower production costs. The plant equipment is made in pieces in Ulsan and then shipped to the construction site, rather than being fully built on-site.
“This will help reduce costs for Hyundai Heavy and let us complete projects before the contract period,” Kang said.
The system is being used for a $1 billion gas plant being built for Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Co. on Das island in the Persian Gulf emirate. Construction is due to be completed by September 2013.
By Kyunghee Park
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. expects to win at least 79 percent more oil and gas equipment orders this year as the world’s biggest shipyard reduces its dependency on shipbuilding.
“There is a chance we could exceed our order target” of about $4.2 billion, Kang Chang June, executive vice president of Hyundai Heavy’s offshore and engineering division, said in an interview at the company’s Ulsan, South Korea headquarters yesterday. Net income from the division is expected to be similar to last year’s figure of 300 billion won ($265 million) to 400 billion won, he said.
Hyundai Heavy has already achieved more than half its 2010 offshore order target as oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Petroleo Brasileiro SA boost investment in drilling and floating production equipment to support wider exploration. The Korean company is targeting oil and gas as overcapacity and Chinese competition sap ship orders.
“Offshore is definitely the business to be in,” said Kim Hyun, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. “Demand is going to increase because production at existing wells is declining and fuel demand is growing.”
Hyundai Heavy is bidding or preparing to bid for projects in areas including the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, Kang said. Brazil has also become a focus for rigmakers as state- controlled Petrobras plans to order 58 drilling rigs, mainly from local yards, through 2018. The company is developing the Tupi field, which may hold as much as 8 million barrels of oil.
Brazil Venture
Hyundai Heavy has agreed to acquire a 10 percent stake in EBX Brasil SA’s shipyard unit to target contracts from Petrobras, which plans to spend $174.4 billion in the five years through 2013 to help tap offshore fields. The shipbuilder may eventually increase this holding, Kang said.
“Brazil has the natural resources and we expect orders to come through but it will take some time,” he said. “That’s why we don’t have plans to build a production facility there.”
Sembcorp Marine Ltd., the world’s second-biggest maker of shallow-water oil rigs, said last month it plans to open a new yard in Brazil. Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world’s second-largest shipyard, in June 2008 bought a 10 percent stake in Estaleiro Atlantico Sul.
Hyundai Heavy climbed 2 percent in Seoul trading to 232,500 won, the highest close in almost 10 months. The stock has advanced 23 percent in the past year, compared with a 45 percent climb for South Korea’s Kospi index.
The shipyard aims to win a total of $17.7 billion worth of contracts this year, an increase of 65 percent from 2009. It posted a net income of 2.15 trillion won last year, 4.9 percent less than a year earlier.
Eni Order
The company last month won a $1.2 billion order to build a floating production, storage and offloading vessel for Eni SpA, Italy’s biggest oil and gas company. The yard will also build a gas platform and pipelines valued at $1.4 billion for Daewoo International Corp. in Myanmar.
Investments in floating production facilities are expected to reach as much as $9 billion annually until 2013, according to Hyundai Heavy.
Shell, vying with BP as Europe’s biggest oil company, said yesterday that it plans to spend more than $100 billion by 2014 to revive production growth. The company is assessing more than 35 projects that may add 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources. Oil traded above $82 in New York today.
Hyundai Heavy is also aiming to build more onshore gas and chemical plants, where it is using block-building systems used to make ships to lower production costs. The plant equipment is made in pieces in Ulsan and then shipped to the construction site, rather than being fully built on-site.
“This will help reduce costs for Hyundai Heavy and let us complete projects before the contract period,” Kang said.
The system is being used for a $1 billion gas plant being built for Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Co. on Das island in the Persian Gulf emirate. Construction is due to be completed by September 2013.
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Interconnectionworld - Over 2,000 people killed in road accidents in Myanmar in 2009
YANGON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 2,173 people were killed and 14,700 others were injured in 8,461 traffic accidents across Myanmar in the year 2009, local media reported Tuesday.
The death toll and the injured were significantly up from 2008' s 153 and 1,777 respectively, the traffic police office was quoted by the Pyi Myanmar as saying.
2008's car accident cases were registered as 662.
In 2009, Mandalay division is leading with the highest occurrence of accident cases of 1,655, followed by Yangon division with 1,644 cases, Bago division with 1,070 and Sagaing division with 1,008, it said.
Statistics indicate that Myanmar lost 3 percent of gross domestic product annually due to car accidents across the country.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar police authorities are taking measures for reducing traffic accidents by cooperating with regional countries including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under the Global Road Safety Partnership program.
According to statistics, the number of motor vehicles operating in the whole of Myanmar reached over 2.02 million as of November last year, up from over 1.99 million
correspondingly in the previous year.
Of the total, 1.63 million are motor cycles, while 249,048 are passenger cars, 60,118 are trucks and 19,869 are buses.
YANGON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 2,173 people were killed and 14,700 others were injured in 8,461 traffic accidents across Myanmar in the year 2009, local media reported Tuesday.
The death toll and the injured were significantly up from 2008' s 153 and 1,777 respectively, the traffic police office was quoted by the Pyi Myanmar as saying.
2008's car accident cases were registered as 662.
In 2009, Mandalay division is leading with the highest occurrence of accident cases of 1,655, followed by Yangon division with 1,644 cases, Bago division with 1,070 and Sagaing division with 1,008, it said.
Statistics indicate that Myanmar lost 3 percent of gross domestic product annually due to car accidents across the country.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar police authorities are taking measures for reducing traffic accidents by cooperating with regional countries including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under the Global Road Safety Partnership program.
According to statistics, the number of motor vehicles operating in the whole of Myanmar reached over 2.02 million as of November last year, up from over 1.99 million
correspondingly in the previous year.
Of the total, 1.63 million are motor cycles, while 249,048 are passenger cars, 60,118 are trucks and 19,869 are buses.
********************************************************
UN chief denies receiving letter from British Prime Minister on Myanmar
English.news.cn 2010-03-17 02:54:12
UNITED NATIONS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday denied receiving a letter from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown requesting a meeting in New York to discuss Myanmar's electoral laws.
Ban made the comment to a group of journalists after a press conference held at UN headquarters in New York.
According to a statement by Brown on Wednesday the British government requested an emergency meeting at the UN to discuss a possible arms embargo against Myanmar, which recently announced new electoral laws for the first nationwide election to be held in 20 years.
"Burma has ignored the demands of the UN Security Council, the UN secretary-general, the U.S., EU (European Union) and its neighbors by imposing restrictive and unfair terms for the elections," Brown's statement said, using Myanmar's former name. " The targeting of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD is particularly vindictive and callous. We will also seek international support to impose an arms embargo against Burma."
"Burma's people are demanding political and economic freedom and the international community must stand by them," the statement added.
The United Nations is a member of the "Group of Friends on Myanmar," which includes the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the EU, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and Norway.
The ruling Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which has not yet set a date for nationwide elections, enacted five electoral laws, the state Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) reported last week.
These laws are Union Election Commission Law, Political Parties Registration Law, Pyithu Luttaw (People's Parliament) Election Law, Amyotha Hluttaw (National Parliament) Election Law and State or Division Parliament Election Law, the report said.
Last week, the UN secretary-general told reporters that the new electoral laws "do not measure up to our expectations of what is needed for an inclusive political process."
In a letter sent to Myanmar's military chief, Ban expressed his concern about the credibility of the elections and reiterated his call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
English.news.cn 2010-03-17 02:54:12
UNITED NATIONS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday denied receiving a letter from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown requesting a meeting in New York to discuss Myanmar's electoral laws.
Ban made the comment to a group of journalists after a press conference held at UN headquarters in New York.
According to a statement by Brown on Wednesday the British government requested an emergency meeting at the UN to discuss a possible arms embargo against Myanmar, which recently announced new electoral laws for the first nationwide election to be held in 20 years.
"Burma has ignored the demands of the UN Security Council, the UN secretary-general, the U.S., EU (European Union) and its neighbors by imposing restrictive and unfair terms for the elections," Brown's statement said, using Myanmar's former name. " The targeting of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD is particularly vindictive and callous. We will also seek international support to impose an arms embargo against Burma."
"Burma's people are demanding political and economic freedom and the international community must stand by them," the statement added.
The United Nations is a member of the "Group of Friends on Myanmar," which includes the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the EU, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and Norway.
The ruling Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which has not yet set a date for nationwide elections, enacted five electoral laws, the state Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) reported last week.
These laws are Union Election Commission Law, Political Parties Registration Law, Pyithu Luttaw (People's Parliament) Election Law, Amyotha Hluttaw (National Parliament) Election Law and State or Division Parliament Election Law, the report said.
Last week, the UN secretary-general told reporters that the new electoral laws "do not measure up to our expectations of what is needed for an inclusive political process."
In a letter sent to Myanmar's military chief, Ban expressed his concern about the credibility of the elections and reiterated his call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
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Inner City Press - UN's Friends on Myanmar to Meet March 25, UK's Letter Catches Up to Ban
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, March 17 -- Amid criticism of the election laws propounded by Burmese military leader Than Shwe, at the UN on March 25 the Group of Friends of the Secretary General on Myanmar will meet, Inner City Press has learned.
On March 16, after UK prime minister Gordon Brown had been quoted in a government press release that he had sent a letter to S-G Ban Ki-moon requesting an emergency meeting in New York, Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban if he had gotten the letter, and if there would be a meeting of his Group of Friends.
No, Mr. Ban replied, he had not gotten any UK letter. But he said there might be a meeting of the Group of Friends.
UK Permanent Representative to the UN Mark Lyall Grant, who had no-commented a Press question about Myanmar on his way into the Security Council Tuesday morning, did not come to Wednesday's Council meeting.
His Deputy Philip Parham came, but split off from Austria's Ambassador and entered the chamber without passing by the press. Austria's Ambassador told Inner City Press that on Myanmar, he had no more information than the day before.
But later on Wednesday morning, not from the UK mission, Inner City Press learned that Mr. Ban has requested a meeting of his Group of Friend on March 25. China cannot block it, the source said. The Friends meet when Mr. Ban requests it.
A question is whether Ban will claim that he was already planning to convene his Group of Friends on Myanmar before getting -- or even hearing about -- Gordon Brown's letter.
Timing is everything, especially in the absence of action.
The Press has been told that Tuesday following Mr. Ban's noon press conference at the conclusion of which he told Inner City Press he had no letter from Brown but there might be a meeting of the Friends, the UK's Lyall Grant finally hand delivered Brown's letter to Ban.
Had Ban heard of Brown's letter, and decided to get out in front of it? Or do great or at least Friendly minds think alike?
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, March 17 -- Amid criticism of the election laws propounded by Burmese military leader Than Shwe, at the UN on March 25 the Group of Friends of the Secretary General on Myanmar will meet, Inner City Press has learned.
On March 16, after UK prime minister Gordon Brown had been quoted in a government press release that he had sent a letter to S-G Ban Ki-moon requesting an emergency meeting in New York, Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban if he had gotten the letter, and if there would be a meeting of his Group of Friends.
No, Mr. Ban replied, he had not gotten any UK letter. But he said there might be a meeting of the Group of Friends.
UK Permanent Representative to the UN Mark Lyall Grant, who had no-commented a Press question about Myanmar on his way into the Security Council Tuesday morning, did not come to Wednesday's Council meeting.
His Deputy Philip Parham came, but split off from Austria's Ambassador and entered the chamber without passing by the press. Austria's Ambassador told Inner City Press that on Myanmar, he had no more information than the day before.
But later on Wednesday morning, not from the UK mission, Inner City Press learned that Mr. Ban has requested a meeting of his Group of Friend on March 25. China cannot block it, the source said. The Friends meet when Mr. Ban requests it.
A question is whether Ban will claim that he was already planning to convene his Group of Friends on Myanmar before getting -- or even hearing about -- Gordon Brown's letter.
Timing is everything, especially in the absence of action.
The Press has been told that Tuesday following Mr. Ban's noon press conference at the conclusion of which he told Inner City Press he had no letter from Brown but there might be a meeting of the Friends, the UK's Lyall Grant finally hand delivered Brown's letter to Ban.
Had Ban heard of Brown's letter, and decided to get out in front of it? Or do great or at least Friendly minds think alike?
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Human Rights Watch - Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Burma
March 16, 2010
March 16, 2010
Human Rights Watch
Item 4
Interactive Dialogue with the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
13th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council
15 March, 2010
Human Rights Watch welcomes the call by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, to consider establishing a commission of inquiry with a specific fact-finding mandate to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. The United Nations should establish this commission without delay. Since 2006 Human Rights Watch has called on the UN to establish a commission of inquiry into the numerous systematic human rights violations that continue to be committed in Burma with impunity.
A commission of inquiry would be a first step towards providing justice for victims of serious abuses in Burma and to deter future violations of international law. The Burmese armed forces in its conduct of military operations in Burma's long-running armed conflicts has been implicated in numerous violations of international human rights and humanitarian law against Burma's ethnic minority populations. Such a commission could investigate crimes perpetrated by all parties to the conflicts, including extra-judicial killings, torture, rape and other sexual violence against women and girls, use of child soldiers, forced labor, pillage, and forced displacement.
Human Rights Watch's ongoing research in Burma found that these crimes continue against various ethnic minorities in eastern Burma and against the ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority in western Burma. More than half a million people are internally displaced in eastern Burma, as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled to neighboring Thailand over the past 25 years. Burmese army attacks and routine human rights violations by army units stationed in these areas continue to displace large numbers of civilians.
A May 2009 report, "Crimes in Burma," by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, reviewed the findings of UN human rights reports over several years and concluded that human rights abuses are both widespread and systematic and are in effect part of state policy. The Harvard report similarly called for a commission of inquiry to be established to investigate alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.
Burma remains one of the most repressive countries in Asia. The military government, called the State Peace and Development Council, restricts the basic rights and freedoms of all Burmese. The Burmese election law released last week undermines participation by opposition political parties. It confirms that the military is stage-managing elections announced for this year to perpetrate its rule with an ostensibly civilian parliament that is a front for continued military control. Addressing the ongoing impunity that fuels the civil conflict and endangers the civilian population would be a significant step towards advancing the broader goal of promoting a rights-respecting government in Burma.
The Human Rights Council should support the Special Rapporteur's call for a commission of inquiry with a fact-finding mandate in Burma. An international investigative body would provide the factual and legal groundwork for an independent justice mechanism to hold accountable those most responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Justice and accountability are at the foundation of the United Nations system, rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which calls for an international order in which the rights and freedoms set out in the declaration can be fully realized. Failing to act on accountability in Burma will embolden the perpetrators of international crimes and further postpone long-overdue justice.
Human Rights Watch urges the Secretary-General to support Mr. Quintana's recommendation and convene a commission at the highest levels of the UN to put it into effect.
Item 4
Interactive Dialogue with the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
13th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council
15 March, 2010
Human Rights Watch welcomes the call by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, to consider establishing a commission of inquiry with a specific fact-finding mandate to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. The United Nations should establish this commission without delay. Since 2006 Human Rights Watch has called on the UN to establish a commission of inquiry into the numerous systematic human rights violations that continue to be committed in Burma with impunity.
A commission of inquiry would be a first step towards providing justice for victims of serious abuses in Burma and to deter future violations of international law. The Burmese armed forces in its conduct of military operations in Burma's long-running armed conflicts has been implicated in numerous violations of international human rights and humanitarian law against Burma's ethnic minority populations. Such a commission could investigate crimes perpetrated by all parties to the conflicts, including extra-judicial killings, torture, rape and other sexual violence against women and girls, use of child soldiers, forced labor, pillage, and forced displacement.
Human Rights Watch's ongoing research in Burma found that these crimes continue against various ethnic minorities in eastern Burma and against the ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority in western Burma. More than half a million people are internally displaced in eastern Burma, as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled to neighboring Thailand over the past 25 years. Burmese army attacks and routine human rights violations by army units stationed in these areas continue to displace large numbers of civilians.
A May 2009 report, "Crimes in Burma," by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, reviewed the findings of UN human rights reports over several years and concluded that human rights abuses are both widespread and systematic and are in effect part of state policy. The Harvard report similarly called for a commission of inquiry to be established to investigate alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.
Burma remains one of the most repressive countries in Asia. The military government, called the State Peace and Development Council, restricts the basic rights and freedoms of all Burmese. The Burmese election law released last week undermines participation by opposition political parties. It confirms that the military is stage-managing elections announced for this year to perpetrate its rule with an ostensibly civilian parliament that is a front for continued military control. Addressing the ongoing impunity that fuels the civil conflict and endangers the civilian population would be a significant step towards advancing the broader goal of promoting a rights-respecting government in Burma.
The Human Rights Council should support the Special Rapporteur's call for a commission of inquiry with a fact-finding mandate in Burma. An international investigative body would provide the factual and legal groundwork for an independent justice mechanism to hold accountable those most responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Justice and accountability are at the foundation of the United Nations system, rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which calls for an international order in which the rights and freedoms set out in the declaration can be fully realized. Failing to act on accountability in Burma will embolden the perpetrators of international crimes and further postpone long-overdue justice.
Human Rights Watch urges the Secretary-General to support Mr. Quintana's recommendation and convene a commission at the highest levels of the UN to put it into effect.
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The Irrawaddy - Australia Supports Considering UN Commission of Inquiry
By KO HTWE - Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Australian government expressed support for investigating possible options to establish a United Nations commission of inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity in Burma at a UN Human Rights Council meeting on Monday.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights who just returned from his third visit to Burma in February, has called for the UN to consider establishing a commission of inquiry with a specific fact-finding mandate to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma
His report to the human rights council confirmed the dire rights situation in Burma and reaffirmed the need for the international community to remain engaged in seeking to improve the situation, according to a statement by the Permanent Mission of Australian to the UN in Geneva.
Countries participating in the discussion on Burma were Italy, Canada, the Philippines, Japan, the European Union, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, Cuba, Belgium, Argentina, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, China, the United States, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
Various non-governmental organizations including The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development; Reporters without Borders International; International Federation for Human Rights Leagues; Human Rights Watch; Asian Legal Resource Centre; and Amnesty International also contributed to the discussion or issued statement on the issue.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the UN to establish a commission without delay at the highest levels of the UN.
Research by HRW has concluded that a range of crimes continue against minorities in Burma and identified it as the most repressive country in Asia.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown released a statement on Wednesday saying that Burma had ignored the demand of the UN and international community by imposing restrictive and unfair terms for the election it will hold later this year.
“The targeting of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD is particularly vindictive and callous. We will also seek international support to impose an arms embargo against Burma. Burma's people are demanding political and economic freedom and the international community must stand by them," the statement said.
The statement also called for an emergency meeting at the UN to discuss a possible arms embargo against Burma.
By KO HTWE - Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Australian government expressed support for investigating possible options to establish a United Nations commission of inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity in Burma at a UN Human Rights Council meeting on Monday.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights who just returned from his third visit to Burma in February, has called for the UN to consider establishing a commission of inquiry with a specific fact-finding mandate to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma
His report to the human rights council confirmed the dire rights situation in Burma and reaffirmed the need for the international community to remain engaged in seeking to improve the situation, according to a statement by the Permanent Mission of Australian to the UN in Geneva.
Countries participating in the discussion on Burma were Italy, Canada, the Philippines, Japan, the European Union, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, Cuba, Belgium, Argentina, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, China, the United States, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
Various non-governmental organizations including The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development; Reporters without Borders International; International Federation for Human Rights Leagues; Human Rights Watch; Asian Legal Resource Centre; and Amnesty International also contributed to the discussion or issued statement on the issue.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the UN to establish a commission without delay at the highest levels of the UN.
Research by HRW has concluded that a range of crimes continue against minorities in Burma and identified it as the most repressive country in Asia.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown released a statement on Wednesday saying that Burma had ignored the demand of the UN and international community by imposing restrictive and unfair terms for the election it will hold later this year.
“The targeting of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD is particularly vindictive and callous. We will also seek international support to impose an arms embargo against Burma. Burma's people are demanding political and economic freedom and the international community must stand by them," the statement said.
The statement also called for an emergency meeting at the UN to discuss a possible arms embargo against Burma.
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The Irrawaddy - Gov't Ministers to Contest the Election
By KYAW THEIN KHA - Wednesday, March 17, 2010
More than 12 ministers in Burma's junta are reportedly preparing to resign and to run for seats in parliament in the 2010 election, according to military sources.
“Deputy ministers who do not contest in the election will take the vacant position of the ministers,” said a source in Rangoon.
The ministers designated to run for office in parliament are believed to include Soe Tha, the minister of National Planning & Economic Development; Brig-Gen Aung Thein Linn, the Rangoon mayor; and Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, the Information minister, according to the source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to make the information public.
Aung Thaung, the minister of Industry-1, also is expected to contest in the election.
The ministers are expected to run in constituencies in townships in Rangoon Division, Irrawaddy Division, Sagaing Division and Arakan and Kachin states, according to the source.
Under the 2008 Constitution, 25 percent of the representatives in the People's Assembly (Lower House) and National Assembly (Upper House) will be military officials appointed by the commander-in-chief of the Tamadaw (armed forces).
The source said there is speculation that another 18 ministers would also either run for office or be appointed directly to serve in parliament by the commander-in-chief. No names were available.
Current government ministers are also expected to lead the junta’s mass organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, and two proxy political parties, which have yet to register with the Election Commission.
USDA sources said the organization would name one of the proxy parties the “Guidance Democracy Party.” Ex-military officers are expected to lead the parties, which will register in the near future.
State-run television on Wednesday announced that the technical regulations on how to register as a political party will be published on Thursday.
By KYAW THEIN KHA - Wednesday, March 17, 2010
More than 12 ministers in Burma's junta are reportedly preparing to resign and to run for seats in parliament in the 2010 election, according to military sources.
“Deputy ministers who do not contest in the election will take the vacant position of the ministers,” said a source in Rangoon.
The ministers designated to run for office in parliament are believed to include Soe Tha, the minister of National Planning & Economic Development; Brig-Gen Aung Thein Linn, the Rangoon mayor; and Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, the Information minister, according to the source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to make the information public.
Aung Thaung, the minister of Industry-1, also is expected to contest in the election.
The ministers are expected to run in constituencies in townships in Rangoon Division, Irrawaddy Division, Sagaing Division and Arakan and Kachin states, according to the source.
Under the 2008 Constitution, 25 percent of the representatives in the People's Assembly (Lower House) and National Assembly (Upper House) will be military officials appointed by the commander-in-chief of the Tamadaw (armed forces).
The source said there is speculation that another 18 ministers would also either run for office or be appointed directly to serve in parliament by the commander-in-chief. No names were available.
Current government ministers are also expected to lead the junta’s mass organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, and two proxy political parties, which have yet to register with the Election Commission.
USDA sources said the organization would name one of the proxy parties the “Guidance Democracy Party.” Ex-military officers are expected to lead the parties, which will register in the near future.
State-run television on Wednesday announced that the technical regulations on how to register as a political party will be published on Thursday.
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The Irrawaddy - Technical Regulations Favor Wealthy Candidates
By KYAW THEIN KHA - Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Technical Regulations for Political Parties Registration, which will be announced tomorrow in State newspapers, includes party registration fees and the permitted expenditure of candidates, according to a copy of the regulation obtained by The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Paragraph 7/b of article 2 of the technical regulation said: “From the day of gaining the approval of the Commission in accord with the Article 5/a of this law, a political party can register within 30 days together with the registration fee 300, 000 Kyat [US $300].”
Article 21 said: “A political party can use 10 million Kyat [$10,000] for campaign expenditure of each candidate who will run in any of the parliamentary elections, either from the party fund or the candidate's official earnings.”
This is very different to the no more than 70,000 kyat ($70 at current exchange rates; $1500 at exchange rates in 1990) allowed for campaign expenditure by candidates in the 1990 election regulation.
According to the recently announced election law, the National League for Democracy (NLD) has to register within 60 days as a political party or it will be dissolved.
On March 29, the NLD will decide if it will contest in the election or not, according to its central executive committee members.
The State-run television today announced “The Technical Regulations for Political Parties Registration” and it will announce detailed regulations in the State-run newspapers tomorrow.
By KYAW THEIN KHA - Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Technical Regulations for Political Parties Registration, which will be announced tomorrow in State newspapers, includes party registration fees and the permitted expenditure of candidates, according to a copy of the regulation obtained by The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Paragraph 7/b of article 2 of the technical regulation said: “From the day of gaining the approval of the Commission in accord with the Article 5/a of this law, a political party can register within 30 days together with the registration fee 300, 000 Kyat [US $300].”
Article 21 said: “A political party can use 10 million Kyat [$10,000] for campaign expenditure of each candidate who will run in any of the parliamentary elections, either from the party fund or the candidate's official earnings.”
This is very different to the no more than 70,000 kyat ($70 at current exchange rates; $1500 at exchange rates in 1990) allowed for campaign expenditure by candidates in the 1990 election regulation.
According to the recently announced election law, the National League for Democracy (NLD) has to register within 60 days as a political party or it will be dissolved.
On March 29, the NLD will decide if it will contest in the election or not, according to its central executive committee members.
The State-run television today announced “The Technical Regulations for Political Parties Registration” and it will announce detailed regulations in the State-run newspapers tomorrow.
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Human Rights Council remains divided over Burma
Wednesday, 17 March 2010 13:20 Mizzima News
(Mizzima) – Meeting in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council revealed it remains as divided as ever regarding the political machinations currently underway in military-ruled Burma.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, presented his findings to the body on Monday following his third visit to the crisis-stricken Southeast Asian country.
Quintana iterated that the proposed 2010 elections at least thus far appear to be an opportunity not seized upon by the Burmese junta, as little progress is discernible toward the convening of free and fair polls. The envoy added that there also appears to have been little done on the part of authorities concerning his earlier four core human rights recommendations.
In October of 2008 the special envoy recommended the release of all prisoners of conscience, a review of national legislation in accordance with international human rights standards, judicial reform and the implementation of a human rights training program for the armed forces.
However, as with Quintana’s previous reports to the Council, representatives responded along predictably divisive lines, with most Western countries demanding the Burmese junta do more to meet its international human rights obligations and regional voices insisting the regime was making progress in guaranteeing the rights of its citizens.
Significantly, Australia joined the ranks of those in vocal support of a UN commission of inquiry into whether or not international crimes against humanity have been committed in Burma.
According to Quintana, “there is an indication that human rights violations are the result of a State policy, originating from decisions by authorities in the executive, military and judiciary at all levels.”
United States representative Douglas Griffiths added, “The recommendation that the United Nations consider creating a commission of inquiry was significant. That recommendation served to underscore the seriousness of the human rights problems in the country, and the pressing need for the international community to find an effective way to address challenges there.”
The move to establish a commission of inquiry is further supported by numerous international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Nonetheless, Burma’s representative to the body maintained the regime’s long held line that the country’s transition towards democracy is proceeding apace while there exist no prisoners of conscience in the country’s penal system.
Despite the much maligned election laws recently released by the junta, which opponents argue merely serve to cement the military’s stranglehold, regional countries rose in guarded defense of the regime’s actions, with Thailand’s representative even claiming that a “positive trend” could be discerned regarding the events of recent weeks.
Meanwhile representatives from China and Bangladesh joined Vietnam in urging the Council to recognize the “serious commitment of Myanmar [Burma] to the national reconciliation process.”
Japan, for its part, chose to emphasize the importance of benchmarks as Burma embarks on a transition from military to democratic rule.
As presently outlined, Burma’s election laws preclude opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the elections, a position widely condemned by Quintana, Western governments and rights groups alike. Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, is expected to convene a high-level meeting at the end of March to outline a strategy in light of the restrictive election laws.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010 13:20 Mizzima News
(Mizzima) – Meeting in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council revealed it remains as divided as ever regarding the political machinations currently underway in military-ruled Burma.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, presented his findings to the body on Monday following his third visit to the crisis-stricken Southeast Asian country.
Quintana iterated that the proposed 2010 elections at least thus far appear to be an opportunity not seized upon by the Burmese junta, as little progress is discernible toward the convening of free and fair polls. The envoy added that there also appears to have been little done on the part of authorities concerning his earlier four core human rights recommendations.
In October of 2008 the special envoy recommended the release of all prisoners of conscience, a review of national legislation in accordance with international human rights standards, judicial reform and the implementation of a human rights training program for the armed forces.
However, as with Quintana’s previous reports to the Council, representatives responded along predictably divisive lines, with most Western countries demanding the Burmese junta do more to meet its international human rights obligations and regional voices insisting the regime was making progress in guaranteeing the rights of its citizens.
Significantly, Australia joined the ranks of those in vocal support of a UN commission of inquiry into whether or not international crimes against humanity have been committed in Burma.
According to Quintana, “there is an indication that human rights violations are the result of a State policy, originating from decisions by authorities in the executive, military and judiciary at all levels.”
United States representative Douglas Griffiths added, “The recommendation that the United Nations consider creating a commission of inquiry was significant. That recommendation served to underscore the seriousness of the human rights problems in the country, and the pressing need for the international community to find an effective way to address challenges there.”
The move to establish a commission of inquiry is further supported by numerous international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Nonetheless, Burma’s representative to the body maintained the regime’s long held line that the country’s transition towards democracy is proceeding apace while there exist no prisoners of conscience in the country’s penal system.
Despite the much maligned election laws recently released by the junta, which opponents argue merely serve to cement the military’s stranglehold, regional countries rose in guarded defense of the regime’s actions, with Thailand’s representative even claiming that a “positive trend” could be discerned regarding the events of recent weeks.
Meanwhile representatives from China and Bangladesh joined Vietnam in urging the Council to recognize the “serious commitment of Myanmar [Burma] to the national reconciliation process.”
Japan, for its part, chose to emphasize the importance of benchmarks as Burma embarks on a transition from military to democratic rule.
As presently outlined, Burma’s election laws preclude opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the elections, a position widely condemned by Quintana, Western governments and rights groups alike. Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, is expected to convene a high-level meeting at the end of March to outline a strategy in light of the restrictive election laws.
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Opposition urges India to take stand on Burmese polls
Wednesday, 17 March 2010 18:08 Mizzima News
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The main Opposition parties in India have ganged up against the ruling government over its silence regarding the forthcoming elections in Burma and said that though India can only give vent to its opinion it ought to make its stand clear.
Brinda Karat, Politbureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) told Mizzima that “The Indian government should state its stand clearly (on Burma's electoral laws)."
"We would like to demand the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. If she is detained what will the world think of the junta,” said Brinda Karat who is also a MP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) India’s main opposition party, told Mizzima that democracy does not prohibit any one from contesting the elections.
"After all in a democracy, people are the decision makers and they will decide who is the best for the country,” said Prakash Javadekar, spokesperson of the BJP.
The Indian government has refrained from making an official statement on the electoral laws in Burma. Its Foreign Ministry has not responded to Mizzima's repeated calls for comment.
New electoral laws announced by the Burmese military government last week bans anyone convicted by a court from being a member of a party or to contest the 2010 election. It also makes it mandatory for political parties to expel imprisoned members if it wants to register as a party.
There are over 2100 political prisoners serving lengthy prison sentences for their political beliefs and activities. They include leaders of the 1988 student-led democracy movement, Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 elections, Buddhist monks who participated in the 2007 protests as well as the country's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Meanwhile, about 200 Burmese activists in India today staged a protest rally in the capital New Delhi denouncing the military junta's electoral laws.
Sharad Joshi, a MP said that “Unless Suu Kyi is allowed to participate the electoral laws would have no credibility and not be counted as free and fair”.
Speaking at the rally, Joshi who is also Convener of the Indian Parliamentarians' Forum for Democracy in Burma, said that his organization of Indian MPs has urged the government of India to put pressure on the Burmese junta to start a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and hold free and fair elections.
In a statement issued today by the Forum, Indian MPs have urged the Indian government to work with the Secretary General of the United Nations calling for unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and for the national reconciliation in Burma.
Burmese activists in India today urged the UN Security Council members to constitute a UN Commission for inquiry for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Burmese military in Burma.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010 18:08 Mizzima News
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The main Opposition parties in India have ganged up against the ruling government over its silence regarding the forthcoming elections in Burma and said that though India can only give vent to its opinion it ought to make its stand clear.
Brinda Karat, Politbureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) told Mizzima that “The Indian government should state its stand clearly (on Burma's electoral laws)."
"We would like to demand the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. If she is detained what will the world think of the junta,” said Brinda Karat who is also a MP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) India’s main opposition party, told Mizzima that democracy does not prohibit any one from contesting the elections.
"After all in a democracy, people are the decision makers and they will decide who is the best for the country,” said Prakash Javadekar, spokesperson of the BJP.
The Indian government has refrained from making an official statement on the electoral laws in Burma. Its Foreign Ministry has not responded to Mizzima's repeated calls for comment.
New electoral laws announced by the Burmese military government last week bans anyone convicted by a court from being a member of a party or to contest the 2010 election. It also makes it mandatory for political parties to expel imprisoned members if it wants to register as a party.
There are over 2100 political prisoners serving lengthy prison sentences for their political beliefs and activities. They include leaders of the 1988 student-led democracy movement, Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 elections, Buddhist monks who participated in the 2007 protests as well as the country's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Meanwhile, about 200 Burmese activists in India today staged a protest rally in the capital New Delhi denouncing the military junta's electoral laws.
Sharad Joshi, a MP said that “Unless Suu Kyi is allowed to participate the electoral laws would have no credibility and not be counted as free and fair”.
Speaking at the rally, Joshi who is also Convener of the Indian Parliamentarians' Forum for Democracy in Burma, said that his organization of Indian MPs has urged the government of India to put pressure on the Burmese junta to start a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and hold free and fair elections.
In a statement issued today by the Forum, Indian MPs have urged the Indian government to work with the Secretary General of the United Nations calling for unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and for the national reconciliation in Burma.
Burmese activists in India today urged the UN Security Council members to constitute a UN Commission for inquiry for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Burmese military in Burma.
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DVB News - ‘We’ve fallen for the generals’ tricks’
By ZOYA PHAN
Published: 17 March 2010
So far, March has been a bad month for those countries and so-called Burma experts who advocate for a softer line with Burma’s generals. First were the admissions by the US that its engagement policy was going nowhere; then came the publication of election laws in Burma that don’t give the slightest concession to calls that elections this year be free and fair; and finally the recommendations by the UN special rapporteur on Burma that there be a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the dictatorship. The true nature of Than Shwe and the general’s around him has been revealed again.
The argument over what the international community should do about the situation in our country has grown in recent years. What has surprised me is how badly informed that debate has been, and how willing some people and countries are to turn a blind eye to the reality of what is going in my country. Some people are even worse, playing down the human rights abuses and trying to put a positive spin on the actions of the generals.
What governments and the UN have consistently failed to do is to look at the true nature of the people ruling Burma. Only when you understand them and what they do can you work out how to deal with them.
As a Karen woman growing up in eastern Burma I know this true nature first-hand. I have seen the bodies of villagers and farmers, met the women who have been raped and the orphans whose parents were killed. Like thousands of others I have had to flee for my life as mortar bombs exploded in my village, fired at civilians without warning. Now, finally, the UN’s own Burma expert has described these as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The international community, especially the UN, prefers to ignore what is happening to ethnic people in eastern Burma. Instead they focus on Rangoon and Naypyidaw, and
on topics like who gets to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, or can someone repair the roof of her house; but what political significance does that have? When decisions on what to do about the crisis in Burma descend to such ridiculous things, I sometimes feel despair.
And even when the abuses happen right in front of them, how short their memories are. The massacre of thousands in 1988, the crushing of student protests in the mid-1990s, and the firing on monks in 2007, all seem forgotten. The generals defy the UN, draft a constitution that legalises dictatorship, and still the UN and others tell us to wait and see: perhaps they’ll change their mind so let’s wait for election laws, they say.
Now the election laws have been published and of course they are not fair. Did they forget that these are the generals who refused to accept the results of elections in 1990? Have the generals given any indication that they are genuinely interested in reform of the welfare of the people? None at all. It is less than two years since they were prepared to let thousands die in the delta after cyclone Nargis, rather than accept international aid. It is only three weeks since they fired a mortar bomb at a school in Karen state, killing one child and injuring two more.
They still have more than 2,100 political prisoners in jail, and arrest more daily. How clear do the generals have to make it before the international community understands that they are not interested in reform? The nature of these generals is to stay in power. They were brought up under the Tatmadaw [Burmese army] slogan: One Blood, One Voice, One Command. They gained their rank fighting ethnic people, and using the Four Cuts policy where civilians are deliberately targeted, where babies were put in rice pounders and crushed to death, and where women and children were raped as part of official government policy. Even girls as young as five have been raped.
When diplomats and so-called experts sit down with those generals in Rangoon and Naypyidaw and think that somehow they will be the one who will negotiate a breakthrough, remember the true nature of the people you are dealing with. Don’t be fooled by the smiles and plush buildings. The generals you shake hands with are brutal killers. Even the UN’s own expert says responsibility for the abuses in Burma go right to the top. They are not diplomats or politicians, they are soldiers. The generals will never, ever, negotiate themselves out of power unless they are forced to do so.
They are, however, good at playing games with an international community that seems desperate to believe their lies. So within the next few days or weeks we can expect some new so-called concessions from the generals, perhaps letting opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party leaders meet Aung San Suu Kyi, or the release of a high profile political prisoner. Once again we will see governments and others attach imaginary significance to this, still ignoring the true nature of the people they are dealing with.
Zoya Phan is international coordinator at Burma Campaign UK. Her autobiography, ‘Undaunted’, will be published in hardback in the US in May, and published as ‘Little Daughter’ in paperback in the UK in May.
By ZOYA PHAN
Published: 17 March 2010
So far, March has been a bad month for those countries and so-called Burma experts who advocate for a softer line with Burma’s generals. First were the admissions by the US that its engagement policy was going nowhere; then came the publication of election laws in Burma that don’t give the slightest concession to calls that elections this year be free and fair; and finally the recommendations by the UN special rapporteur on Burma that there be a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the dictatorship. The true nature of Than Shwe and the general’s around him has been revealed again.
The argument over what the international community should do about the situation in our country has grown in recent years. What has surprised me is how badly informed that debate has been, and how willing some people and countries are to turn a blind eye to the reality of what is going in my country. Some people are even worse, playing down the human rights abuses and trying to put a positive spin on the actions of the generals.
What governments and the UN have consistently failed to do is to look at the true nature of the people ruling Burma. Only when you understand them and what they do can you work out how to deal with them.
As a Karen woman growing up in eastern Burma I know this true nature first-hand. I have seen the bodies of villagers and farmers, met the women who have been raped and the orphans whose parents were killed. Like thousands of others I have had to flee for my life as mortar bombs exploded in my village, fired at civilians without warning. Now, finally, the UN’s own Burma expert has described these as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The international community, especially the UN, prefers to ignore what is happening to ethnic people in eastern Burma. Instead they focus on Rangoon and Naypyidaw, and
on topics like who gets to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, or can someone repair the roof of her house; but what political significance does that have? When decisions on what to do about the crisis in Burma descend to such ridiculous things, I sometimes feel despair.
And even when the abuses happen right in front of them, how short their memories are. The massacre of thousands in 1988, the crushing of student protests in the mid-1990s, and the firing on monks in 2007, all seem forgotten. The generals defy the UN, draft a constitution that legalises dictatorship, and still the UN and others tell us to wait and see: perhaps they’ll change their mind so let’s wait for election laws, they say.
Now the election laws have been published and of course they are not fair. Did they forget that these are the generals who refused to accept the results of elections in 1990? Have the generals given any indication that they are genuinely interested in reform of the welfare of the people? None at all. It is less than two years since they were prepared to let thousands die in the delta after cyclone Nargis, rather than accept international aid. It is only three weeks since they fired a mortar bomb at a school in Karen state, killing one child and injuring two more.
They still have more than 2,100 political prisoners in jail, and arrest more daily. How clear do the generals have to make it before the international community understands that they are not interested in reform? The nature of these generals is to stay in power. They were brought up under the Tatmadaw [Burmese army] slogan: One Blood, One Voice, One Command. They gained their rank fighting ethnic people, and using the Four Cuts policy where civilians are deliberately targeted, where babies were put in rice pounders and crushed to death, and where women and children were raped as part of official government policy. Even girls as young as five have been raped.
When diplomats and so-called experts sit down with those generals in Rangoon and Naypyidaw and think that somehow they will be the one who will negotiate a breakthrough, remember the true nature of the people you are dealing with. Don’t be fooled by the smiles and plush buildings. The generals you shake hands with are brutal killers. Even the UN’s own expert says responsibility for the abuses in Burma go right to the top. They are not diplomats or politicians, they are soldiers. The generals will never, ever, negotiate themselves out of power unless they are forced to do so.
They are, however, good at playing games with an international community that seems desperate to believe their lies. So within the next few days or weeks we can expect some new so-called concessions from the generals, perhaps letting opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party leaders meet Aung San Suu Kyi, or the release of a high profile political prisoner. Once again we will see governments and others attach imaginary significance to this, still ignoring the true nature of the people they are dealing with.
Zoya Phan is international coordinator at Burma Campaign UK. Her autobiography, ‘Undaunted’, will be published in hardback in the US in May, and published as ‘Little Daughter’ in paperback in the UK in May.
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DVB News - Election views blocked in Burmese media
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 17 March 2010
Newspaper editors in Burma have complained that they are being blocked from publishing election opinions given by ‘third force’ parties.
The rule was issued by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, which exercises the Burmese government’s draconian restrictions on media freedom.
One editor told DVB on condition of anonymity that it may be because ‘third force’ groups, those who are neither pro-government or opposition, are yet to register their parties for the elections, rumoured to be in October this year.
“We cannot publish material containing opinions on the elections laws,” the editor said. He added that the Yangon [Rangoon] Times newspaper was barred from publishing an interview with Thu Wei, head of the third force Democratic Party.
Thu Wei said that he was “being interviewed every day” but that these were not being published. He added that there is “less freedom and time to campaign” than compared to the 1990 elections.
Newspapers were also prohibited from reporting about the reopening of around 300 opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party offices last week.
Another editor said however that some journals close to information minister Kyaw San were allowed to publish material in favour of the election laws.
“[Publications] can report material that falls within the guidelines provided by the government but no more than that. Basically, we are not yet allowed to write at our will,” he said.
Burma’s media laws are amongst the strictest in the world; a recent Press Freedom Index released by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranked Burma 171 out of 175 countries.
Journalists who publish material deemed to be critical of the ruling junta risk lengthy prison terms. Observers have warned that the junta will clamp down on media in the run-up to the elections.
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 17 March 2010
Newspaper editors in Burma have complained that they are being blocked from publishing election opinions given by ‘third force’ parties.
The rule was issued by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, which exercises the Burmese government’s draconian restrictions on media freedom.
One editor told DVB on condition of anonymity that it may be because ‘third force’ groups, those who are neither pro-government or opposition, are yet to register their parties for the elections, rumoured to be in October this year.
“We cannot publish material containing opinions on the elections laws,” the editor said. He added that the Yangon [Rangoon] Times newspaper was barred from publishing an interview with Thu Wei, head of the third force Democratic Party.
Thu Wei said that he was “being interviewed every day” but that these were not being published. He added that there is “less freedom and time to campaign” than compared to the 1990 elections.
Newspapers were also prohibited from reporting about the reopening of around 300 opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party offices last week.
Another editor said however that some journals close to information minister Kyaw San were allowed to publish material in favour of the election laws.
“[Publications] can report material that falls within the guidelines provided by the government but no more than that. Basically, we are not yet allowed to write at our will,” he said.
Burma’s media laws are amongst the strictest in the world; a recent Press Freedom Index released by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranked Burma 171 out of 175 countries.
Journalists who publish material deemed to be critical of the ruling junta risk lengthy prison terms. Observers have warned that the junta will clamp down on media in the run-up to the elections.
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