Dam debate looms large over Mekong summit
by Rachel O'Brien – 37 mins ago
BANGKOK (AFP) – Leaders of Southeast Asian nations straddling the shrinking lower Mekong River are set to lean on China at landmark talks as controversy builds over the cause of the waterway's lowest levels in decades.
Beijing's Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao will join the premiers of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin to discuss management of the vast river, on which more than 60 million people depend.
Myanmar will also participate as a dialogue partner at the top-level talks, which will kick off late Sunday and run through Monday.
A crippling drought in the region and the much-debated role of hydropower dams are due to dominate the summit of the inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) -- the first in its 15-year history.
The body warned Friday that the health of the Mekong Basin and the river's eco-systems could be threatened by proposed dams and expanding populations.
"There is a strong link between water quality and the impact of human activity on eco-systems," MRC advisor Hanne Bach said in a statement.
"Over the past five years, significant changes have taken place in water related resources and this is likely to continue, which may put livelihoods under threat," she added.
China is expected to staunchly defend its own dams, which activists downstream blame for water shortages, after the Mekong shrivelled to its lowest level in 50 years in Laos and Thailand's north.
Nations in the lower Mekong basin are likely to press China for information on the river as well as financial help, said Anond Snidvongs, director of the Southeast Asia START Regional Centre, which researches environmental change.
And "behind closed doors there will be strong debate," he told AFP.
China -- itself suffering the worst drought in a century in its southwest, with more than 24 million people short of drinking water -- says the reason for water shortages is unusually low rainfall rather than man-made infrastructure.
It says the dams, built to meet soaring demand for water and hydro-generated electricity, have been effective in releasing water during dry seasons and preventing flooding in rainy months.
"China will never do things that harm the interests of (lower Mekong) countries," said Yao Wen, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok.
The crisis has grounded cargo and tour boats on the so-called "mighty Mekong" and alarmed communities along what is the world's largest inland fishery.
The situation "could be a taste of things to come in the basin if climate change predictions become a reality," said MRC spokesman Damian Kean.
The chief of the MRC's secretariat, Jeremy Bird, last week hailed Beijing's agreement to share water level data from two dams during this dry season, saying it "shows that China is willing to engage with lower basin countries".
Yet questions remain over the impact of the eight planned or existing dams on the mainstream river in China.
Vice Minister of Water Resources Liu Ning said Wednesday more were needed to guarantee water and food security, while 12 dams in lower Mekong countries have also been proposed.
Campaigners also fear that the settling of political scores could block co-operation over the Mekong -- especially the current animosity between Cambodian premier Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The summit marks Hun Sen's first visit to Thailand since the two countries became embroiled in a row late last year over Cambodia's appointment of ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economics adviser.
"That's what worries me quite a lot, that the debate will be more political, and not even related to water," said Anond.
Thailand has invoked a tough security law and will deploy more than 8,000 troops in Hua Hin to ensure protesters do not disrupt the summit, in light of mass anti-government "Red Shirt" rallies in Bangkok since mid-March.
A year ago, regional leaders were forced to abandon a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) due to protests.
by Rachel O'Brien – 37 mins ago
BANGKOK (AFP) – Leaders of Southeast Asian nations straddling the shrinking lower Mekong River are set to lean on China at landmark talks as controversy builds over the cause of the waterway's lowest levels in decades.
Beijing's Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao will join the premiers of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin to discuss management of the vast river, on which more than 60 million people depend.
Myanmar will also participate as a dialogue partner at the top-level talks, which will kick off late Sunday and run through Monday.
A crippling drought in the region and the much-debated role of hydropower dams are due to dominate the summit of the inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) -- the first in its 15-year history.
The body warned Friday that the health of the Mekong Basin and the river's eco-systems could be threatened by proposed dams and expanding populations.
"There is a strong link between water quality and the impact of human activity on eco-systems," MRC advisor Hanne Bach said in a statement.
"Over the past five years, significant changes have taken place in water related resources and this is likely to continue, which may put livelihoods under threat," she added.
China is expected to staunchly defend its own dams, which activists downstream blame for water shortages, after the Mekong shrivelled to its lowest level in 50 years in Laos and Thailand's north.
Nations in the lower Mekong basin are likely to press China for information on the river as well as financial help, said Anond Snidvongs, director of the Southeast Asia START Regional Centre, which researches environmental change.
And "behind closed doors there will be strong debate," he told AFP.
China -- itself suffering the worst drought in a century in its southwest, with more than 24 million people short of drinking water -- says the reason for water shortages is unusually low rainfall rather than man-made infrastructure.
It says the dams, built to meet soaring demand for water and hydro-generated electricity, have been effective in releasing water during dry seasons and preventing flooding in rainy months.
"China will never do things that harm the interests of (lower Mekong) countries," said Yao Wen, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok.
The crisis has grounded cargo and tour boats on the so-called "mighty Mekong" and alarmed communities along what is the world's largest inland fishery.
The situation "could be a taste of things to come in the basin if climate change predictions become a reality," said MRC spokesman Damian Kean.
The chief of the MRC's secretariat, Jeremy Bird, last week hailed Beijing's agreement to share water level data from two dams during this dry season, saying it "shows that China is willing to engage with lower basin countries".
Yet questions remain over the impact of the eight planned or existing dams on the mainstream river in China.
Vice Minister of Water Resources Liu Ning said Wednesday more were needed to guarantee water and food security, while 12 dams in lower Mekong countries have also been proposed.
Campaigners also fear that the settling of political scores could block co-operation over the Mekong -- especially the current animosity between Cambodian premier Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The summit marks Hun Sen's first visit to Thailand since the two countries became embroiled in a row late last year over Cambodia's appointment of ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economics adviser.
"That's what worries me quite a lot, that the debate will be more political, and not even related to water," said Anond.
Thailand has invoked a tough security law and will deploy more than 8,000 troops in Hua Hin to ensure protesters do not disrupt the summit, in light of mass anti-government "Red Shirt" rallies in Bangkok since mid-March.
A year ago, regional leaders were forced to abandon a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) due to protests.
******************************************************
Thailandnews.net - Thailand to press Myanmar to open elections
4/1/2010, 6:59 p.m. EDT
EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
(AP) — NEW YORK - Thailand will be pressing Myanmar's military leaders in the coming week to open its first elections in two decades to all political opponents and ethnic minorities, the country's foreign minister said Friday.
"I'm concerned about the national reconciliation and the inclusiveness of the whole new political process," Kasit Piromya said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Last week, opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, denounced the government's newly announced laws guiding the election as undemocratic and recommended a boycott of the election, expected later this year.
Her National League for Democracy, which swept the last vote in 1990 but was barred from taking power, decided Monday to opt out of the election and now faces dissolution under the junta's laws.
Kasit said Thailand has raised the issue of political inclusiveness with Myanmar and he will raise it again when he meets Myanmar's foreign minister in two days at a meeting of the Mekong River Regional Commission which Thailand is hosting.
4/1/2010, 6:59 p.m. EDT
EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
(AP) — NEW YORK - Thailand will be pressing Myanmar's military leaders in the coming week to open its first elections in two decades to all political opponents and ethnic minorities, the country's foreign minister said Friday.
"I'm concerned about the national reconciliation and the inclusiveness of the whole new political process," Kasit Piromya said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Last week, opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, denounced the government's newly announced laws guiding the election as undemocratic and recommended a boycott of the election, expected later this year.
Her National League for Democracy, which swept the last vote in 1990 but was barred from taking power, decided Monday to opt out of the election and now faces dissolution under the junta's laws.
Kasit said Thailand has raised the issue of political inclusiveness with Myanmar and he will raise it again when he meets Myanmar's foreign minister in two days at a meeting of the Mekong River Regional Commission which Thailand is hosting.
******************************************************
New York Times - Countries Blame China, Not Nature, for Water Shortage
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: April 1, 2010
BANGKOK — In southern China, the worst drought in at least 50 years has dried up farmers’ fields and left tens of millions of people short of water.
But the drought has also created a major public relations problem for the Chinese government in neighboring countries, where in recent years China has tried to project an image of benevolence and brotherhood.
Farmers and fishermen in countries that share the Mekong River with China, especially Thailand, have lashed out at China over four dams that span the Chinese portion of the 3,000-mile river, despite what appears to be firm scientific evidence that low rainfall is responsible for the plunging levels of the river, not China’s hydroelectric power stations.
This weekend, a group of affected countries — Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — are meeting in Thailand to discuss the drought, among other issues.
Thailand will be requesting “more information, more cooperation and more coordination” from China, said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a government spokesman.
China has begun a campaign to try to counter the perception that its dams are hijacking the Mekong’s water as the river runs from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea.
Chinese officials, normally media shy, recently held a news conference and have appeared at seminars, including one on Thursday, to make their case that the drought is purely a natural phenomenon.
“More information will help reduce misinformation,” said Yao Wen, the head of the political section at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok.
He presented pictures of sun-baked riverbeds and dried-up wells at the seminar, including one of a man straddling cracks in a dry riverbed.
“This old man used to be a boatman, but now he has nothing to do,” Mr. Yao told participants.
The concluding image was that of a child staring longingly into a bucket. “You can see how serious the drought is,” he said. “It is a very, very terrible situation.”
Still, many in the room continued to focus on China’s dams. Mr. Yao listened to impassioned pleas by residents of northern Thailand to stop further construction on the river.
“It’s where we fish, where we get food,” said Pianporn Deetes, a Thai campaigner for the environmental group International Rivers. “It’s where we feed our families.”
She blamed Chinese dams and the blasting of rapids to make the river more navigable for reduced fish catches, and she criticized plans for more dams without more transparent public consultations.
By one recent count, there are more than 80 hydropower projects in various stages of preparation and construction for the Mekong and its tributaries.
“How can you decide without listening to us?” asked Ms. Pianporn, a native of Chiang Rai Province, in northern Thailand.
As in so many other parts of the world, the politics of sharing water are rife with tension. Within Thailand, where the drought has affected at least 14,000 villages, one official has described “water wars” between farmers hoping to keep their crops alive.
But discussions among the countries that share the Mekong are more complicated. A common approach toward planning the river’s future means accommodating Thailand’s lively and freewheeling society, the military dictatorship in Myanmar, the authoritarian democracy in Cambodia and the Communist-ruled systems of Laos and Vietnam.
Many Thais remain particularly suspicious of Chinese plans for the Mekong, called Lancang in Chinese.
One professor at the seminar on Thursday prefaced a question to Mr. Yao, the Chinese diplomat, with this: “I realize that it’s difficult for you to speak freely — after this conference you would be fired if you talked freely.”
Some conservationists have attributed the low river levels partly to the construction of China’s fourth dam on the Mekong, at Xiaowan. The dam began filling its reservoir in July, during the rainy season, Chinese officials say, a process that was stopped with the arrival of the dry season.
In recent weeks, as water shortages became acute and navigation at some points of the Mekong became impossible, China released water from its dams, raising the water level, according to Jeremy Bird, the chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission, an advisory body set up in 1995 by the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. China and Myanmar are not members but have some agreements to share information.
Over all, Mr. Bird says China has a “limited capacity” to reverse the effects of the drought for countries downstream. The Mekong, he says, has always been volatile.
“Intense droughts and intense floods have been experienced for a long time,” he said.
Mr. Bird and other experts say dams on the lower part of the river, including one planned in Laos, could have a harmful effect on migratory fish, among other problems.
But over all, Mr. Bird said he believed that more dams in China could even out the Mekong’s seasonal variations by storing water when it was plentiful and releasing it when scarce.
For Ms. Pianporn, who says she cherishes the river’s natural beauty and its bountiful fish, that argument is not persuasive.
“We don’t need more water in the dry season, and we don’t need less in the wet season,” she said. “We would like to see the water as it is.”
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: April 1, 2010
BANGKOK — In southern China, the worst drought in at least 50 years has dried up farmers’ fields and left tens of millions of people short of water.
But the drought has also created a major public relations problem for the Chinese government in neighboring countries, where in recent years China has tried to project an image of benevolence and brotherhood.
Farmers and fishermen in countries that share the Mekong River with China, especially Thailand, have lashed out at China over four dams that span the Chinese portion of the 3,000-mile river, despite what appears to be firm scientific evidence that low rainfall is responsible for the plunging levels of the river, not China’s hydroelectric power stations.
This weekend, a group of affected countries — Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — are meeting in Thailand to discuss the drought, among other issues.
Thailand will be requesting “more information, more cooperation and more coordination” from China, said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a government spokesman.
China has begun a campaign to try to counter the perception that its dams are hijacking the Mekong’s water as the river runs from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea.
Chinese officials, normally media shy, recently held a news conference and have appeared at seminars, including one on Thursday, to make their case that the drought is purely a natural phenomenon.
“More information will help reduce misinformation,” said Yao Wen, the head of the political section at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok.
He presented pictures of sun-baked riverbeds and dried-up wells at the seminar, including one of a man straddling cracks in a dry riverbed.
“This old man used to be a boatman, but now he has nothing to do,” Mr. Yao told participants.
The concluding image was that of a child staring longingly into a bucket. “You can see how serious the drought is,” he said. “It is a very, very terrible situation.”
Still, many in the room continued to focus on China’s dams. Mr. Yao listened to impassioned pleas by residents of northern Thailand to stop further construction on the river.
“It’s where we fish, where we get food,” said Pianporn Deetes, a Thai campaigner for the environmental group International Rivers. “It’s where we feed our families.”
She blamed Chinese dams and the blasting of rapids to make the river more navigable for reduced fish catches, and she criticized plans for more dams without more transparent public consultations.
By one recent count, there are more than 80 hydropower projects in various stages of preparation and construction for the Mekong and its tributaries.
“How can you decide without listening to us?” asked Ms. Pianporn, a native of Chiang Rai Province, in northern Thailand.
As in so many other parts of the world, the politics of sharing water are rife with tension. Within Thailand, where the drought has affected at least 14,000 villages, one official has described “water wars” between farmers hoping to keep their crops alive.
But discussions among the countries that share the Mekong are more complicated. A common approach toward planning the river’s future means accommodating Thailand’s lively and freewheeling society, the military dictatorship in Myanmar, the authoritarian democracy in Cambodia and the Communist-ruled systems of Laos and Vietnam.
Many Thais remain particularly suspicious of Chinese plans for the Mekong, called Lancang in Chinese.
One professor at the seminar on Thursday prefaced a question to Mr. Yao, the Chinese diplomat, with this: “I realize that it’s difficult for you to speak freely — after this conference you would be fired if you talked freely.”
Some conservationists have attributed the low river levels partly to the construction of China’s fourth dam on the Mekong, at Xiaowan. The dam began filling its reservoir in July, during the rainy season, Chinese officials say, a process that was stopped with the arrival of the dry season.
In recent weeks, as water shortages became acute and navigation at some points of the Mekong became impossible, China released water from its dams, raising the water level, according to Jeremy Bird, the chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission, an advisory body set up in 1995 by the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. China and Myanmar are not members but have some agreements to share information.
Over all, Mr. Bird says China has a “limited capacity” to reverse the effects of the drought for countries downstream. The Mekong, he says, has always been volatile.
“Intense droughts and intense floods have been experienced for a long time,” he said.
Mr. Bird and other experts say dams on the lower part of the river, including one planned in Laos, could have a harmful effect on migratory fish, among other problems.
But over all, Mr. Bird said he believed that more dams in China could even out the Mekong’s seasonal variations by storing water when it was plentiful and releasing it when scarce.
For Ms. Pianporn, who says she cherishes the river’s natural beauty and its bountiful fish, that argument is not persuasive.
“We don’t need more water in the dry season, and we don’t need less in the wet season,” she said. “We would like to see the water as it is.”
******************************************************
VietNamNet Bridge - PM Dung leaves for Myanmar visit
09:47' 02/04/2010 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Hanoi on April 2 for a three-day official visit to Myanmar at the invitation of Prime Minister Thein Sein.
Vietnam and Myanmar have strengthened traditional friendship and all-round cooperation in various areas through the regular exchange of their high-level visits.
They have conducted five annual political consultations since 2005. Vietnam has supported Myanmar in regional and international integration, including its admission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
Both countries have worked closely within regional cooperation organisations such as the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), and the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar Vietnam (CLMV) Summit. They have also supported each other in international forums.
Two-way trade in 2008 reached US$108 million and fell to US$99 million in 2009 due to the impact of the global economic recession.
Vietnam and Myanmar have conducted six sessions of their joint commission to discuss measures to increase bilateral cooperation in agriculture, industrial cash crop plantation, aquaculture and seafood processing, finance-banking, aviation, telecommunications, oil&gas, mining, electrical equipment manufacturing, automobile assembling, construction and trade.
The two countries have also established a joint trade committee to boost trade and organise annual trade fairs to introduce products and attract investors.
After Myanmar, Mr Dung will attend the Mekong River Commission Summit to be held in Hua Hin, Thailand, on April 4-5.
09:47' 02/04/2010 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Hanoi on April 2 for a three-day official visit to Myanmar at the invitation of Prime Minister Thein Sein.
Vietnam and Myanmar have strengthened traditional friendship and all-round cooperation in various areas through the regular exchange of their high-level visits.
They have conducted five annual political consultations since 2005. Vietnam has supported Myanmar in regional and international integration, including its admission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
Both countries have worked closely within regional cooperation organisations such as the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), and the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar Vietnam (CLMV) Summit. They have also supported each other in international forums.
Two-way trade in 2008 reached US$108 million and fell to US$99 million in 2009 due to the impact of the global economic recession.
Vietnam and Myanmar have conducted six sessions of their joint commission to discuss measures to increase bilateral cooperation in agriculture, industrial cash crop plantation, aquaculture and seafood processing, finance-banking, aviation, telecommunications, oil&gas, mining, electrical equipment manufacturing, automobile assembling, construction and trade.
The two countries have also established a joint trade committee to boost trade and organise annual trade fairs to introduce products and attract investors.
After Myanmar, Mr Dung will attend the Mekong River Commission Summit to be held in Hua Hin, Thailand, on April 4-5.
******************************************************
TMCnet - Myanmar launches online banking services
YANGON, Apr 02, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The state-owned Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) started launching a quick-cash online banking services Friday to facilitate customers in exchanging cash with the use of smart card, sources with the bank said.
Working with the state-run Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, branches of the MEB in Yangon and Mandalay will provide full time service using ADSL, IPStar systems and fiber optics cables to go online, the sources said.
MEB said it has experienced online banking system since May 2007 in collecting insurance premium from those leaving for foreign countries at Internal Revenue Department in Yangon and in collecting deposit for submitting passport at Passport Office in Yangon, and in providing one stop service at one of the Yangon branch.
Test-run of such online banking services has proved workable with smart card, the sources added.
Meanwhile, Myanmar has also introduced a banking network system in some six banks in the country to interlink state and private banks to facilitate traders for banking transactions, according to the Bankers Association.
The system, being practiced with Yoma bank, Myanmar Citizens Bank, Tun Foundation Bank, Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, Myawaddy Bank and Myanmar Industrial Development Bank, is carried out by local information technology companies of MIT and Global Net.
There are four state banks and 15 private banks in Myanmar all governed by the government's Central Bank.
YANGON, Apr 02, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The state-owned Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) started launching a quick-cash online banking services Friday to facilitate customers in exchanging cash with the use of smart card, sources with the bank said.
Working with the state-run Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, branches of the MEB in Yangon and Mandalay will provide full time service using ADSL, IPStar systems and fiber optics cables to go online, the sources said.
MEB said it has experienced online banking system since May 2007 in collecting insurance premium from those leaving for foreign countries at Internal Revenue Department in Yangon and in collecting deposit for submitting passport at Passport Office in Yangon, and in providing one stop service at one of the Yangon branch.
Test-run of such online banking services has proved workable with smart card, the sources added.
Meanwhile, Myanmar has also introduced a banking network system in some six banks in the country to interlink state and private banks to facilitate traders for banking transactions, according to the Bankers Association.
The system, being practiced with Yoma bank, Myanmar Citizens Bank, Tun Foundation Bank, Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, Myawaddy Bank and Myanmar Industrial Development Bank, is carried out by local information technology companies of MIT and Global Net.
There are four state banks and 15 private banks in Myanmar all governed by the government's Central Bank.
******************************************************
Mother Jones - 5 Reasons Why Burma's Elections Are Bogus
By Mac McClelland - Fri Apr. 2, 2010 4:20 AM PDT
This week, Burma's National League for Democracy, the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, announced that it wouldn't participate in the country's first elections in two decades, which are to be held sometime later this year. Than Shwe, the general who heads the Burmese junta, insists that the contest will be "free and fair," and despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, some outside observers appear to be buying the hype: ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said that the elections are "a new beginning," and the New York Times ran a bizarrely rosy story about the country's future. But the NLD boycott reflects what everybody in Burma already knows—that the elections are a farce.
Let's take a look at the aforementioned mountains of evidence:
1. The government is already cheating. The military's proxy political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, has spent millions currying favor with the populace by paving roads, opening free health clinics, and giving away high school tuition. This started before the junta announced the rules for participating in the election (or even a date; October is the rumor), effectively crippling other parties' ability to start campaigning. When the government finally did reveal the campaign rules, they were so stacked against the opposition—for example, barring Aung San Suu Kyi from participating—that the NLD sued to have them revised. The case was rejected.
2. Even if the generals don't win, they could still "win." In 2008, 92 percent of Burmese voters allegedly said yea to a constitution drafted by the junta. Never mind that the new constitution basically legalized forced labor or that the vote was held in the chaos following a cyclone that killed 140,000 people. Also, the last time the government held multiparty elections, in 1990, and lost to the NLD by a landslide, it simply declared the results void and kept Aung San Suu Kyi incarcerated.
3. Even if the generals admit that they don't win, they still can't actually lose. According to the constitution, 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for the military, and the current government picks the candidates for president. And in the event that parliamentarians do start exercising too much power, the military machine could always just reassert control of the state, as it did in the coups of 1962 and 1988. Than Shwe reminded the populace of this possibility last weekend when he made the wholly unveiled threat that the army can step into politics "whenever the need arises."
4. Bad guys will continue to hold the purse strings. The Times has cited the government's decision to sell "a raft of state-run factories and assets to cronies in the private sector" as a sign of progress. But the reason the military is hastily selling off hundreds of state-owned properties—buildings, land, oil and hydro projects, ports, an airline—to its leaders and crooked friends is to guarantee that the country's economy will remain in their grasp no matter what the election outcome.
5. There's the matter of rampant discrimination and war crimes. Don't discount, as most Western media does, the millions of ethnic minorities inside Burma's borders, many of whom will not participate in the elections (the rules of which were published only in Burmese and English) and some of which have armed insurgent groups threatening to come out of retirement in the face of election-related turmoil. Also rarely discussed is the full-on, horribly bloody war in the east of the country. These minorities' continuing disenfranchisement and targeting for annihilation is hardly a move toward peace and democracy. A UN official and more than 50 US congresspeople have called for an investigation into the regime's crimes against humanity, but a clause in the wildly popular constitution stipulates that the perpetrators cannot be brought to justice.
ASEAN's Pitsuwan may have cause for saying that the Burmese government's decision to hold elections is a "step forward"—after all, that's not saying much about a government known for its total disregard for political and human rights. But such falsely hopeful messages diminish the gaping distance between Burma's current state and true democracy. Did the National League for Democracy have any choice but to sacrifice their chance to play along with the charade?
By Mac McClelland - Fri Apr. 2, 2010 4:20 AM PDT
This week, Burma's National League for Democracy, the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, announced that it wouldn't participate in the country's first elections in two decades, which are to be held sometime later this year. Than Shwe, the general who heads the Burmese junta, insists that the contest will be "free and fair," and despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, some outside observers appear to be buying the hype: ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said that the elections are "a new beginning," and the New York Times ran a bizarrely rosy story about the country's future. But the NLD boycott reflects what everybody in Burma already knows—that the elections are a farce.
Let's take a look at the aforementioned mountains of evidence:
1. The government is already cheating. The military's proxy political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, has spent millions currying favor with the populace by paving roads, opening free health clinics, and giving away high school tuition. This started before the junta announced the rules for participating in the election (or even a date; October is the rumor), effectively crippling other parties' ability to start campaigning. When the government finally did reveal the campaign rules, they were so stacked against the opposition—for example, barring Aung San Suu Kyi from participating—that the NLD sued to have them revised. The case was rejected.
2. Even if the generals don't win, they could still "win." In 2008, 92 percent of Burmese voters allegedly said yea to a constitution drafted by the junta. Never mind that the new constitution basically legalized forced labor or that the vote was held in the chaos following a cyclone that killed 140,000 people. Also, the last time the government held multiparty elections, in 1990, and lost to the NLD by a landslide, it simply declared the results void and kept Aung San Suu Kyi incarcerated.
3. Even if the generals admit that they don't win, they still can't actually lose. According to the constitution, 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for the military, and the current government picks the candidates for president. And in the event that parliamentarians do start exercising too much power, the military machine could always just reassert control of the state, as it did in the coups of 1962 and 1988. Than Shwe reminded the populace of this possibility last weekend when he made the wholly unveiled threat that the army can step into politics "whenever the need arises."
4. Bad guys will continue to hold the purse strings. The Times has cited the government's decision to sell "a raft of state-run factories and assets to cronies in the private sector" as a sign of progress. But the reason the military is hastily selling off hundreds of state-owned properties—buildings, land, oil and hydro projects, ports, an airline—to its leaders and crooked friends is to guarantee that the country's economy will remain in their grasp no matter what the election outcome.
5. There's the matter of rampant discrimination and war crimes. Don't discount, as most Western media does, the millions of ethnic minorities inside Burma's borders, many of whom will not participate in the elections (the rules of which were published only in Burmese and English) and some of which have armed insurgent groups threatening to come out of retirement in the face of election-related turmoil. Also rarely discussed is the full-on, horribly bloody war in the east of the country. These minorities' continuing disenfranchisement and targeting for annihilation is hardly a move toward peace and democracy. A UN official and more than 50 US congresspeople have called for an investigation into the regime's crimes against humanity, but a clause in the wildly popular constitution stipulates that the perpetrators cannot be brought to justice.
ASEAN's Pitsuwan may have cause for saying that the Burmese government's decision to hold elections is a "step forward"—after all, that's not saying much about a government known for its total disregard for political and human rights. But such falsely hopeful messages diminish the gaping distance between Burma's current state and true democracy. Did the National League for Democracy have any choice but to sacrifice their chance to play along with the charade?
******************************************************
Global Politician - New Twists in Burmese Politics
Saberi Roy - 4/2/2010
There are many new twists in the tale of Aung San Suu Kyi’s eternal house arrest in Burma. The Burmese leader has been imprisoned for more than 10 years continuously and more than 14 years during the last 20 years and it was widely expected that she will find ways to participate in the next Burmese elections and her political party the NLD will overthrow the Burmese military regime. It is now reported that new Burmese law requires political parties to expel members who had court conviction if they want to participate in elections and this new law has led NLD to boycott the forthcoming elections.
It seems that laws in Burma can be changed in accordance with the needs of the military regime which suggests that the legal process in Burma is itself a sham and has no credibility. Even the Supreme Court rejected Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal for release from her more than ten years of house arrest without giving any reasons. The legal system being completely in the hands of the junta, the credibility of the country and its government is highly questionable. In fact the legal system of any country is first answerable to law, justice and the people and the Burmese judiciary makes a joke of these very concepts that a legal structure is based on. The foundation of any country is based primarily on the legal system and if citizens of a nation cannot depend on the law, they have no support structure, no guarantee for protection against crimes.
The decision of the Supreme Court and the new law that requires Burmese political parties to expel members with court conviction (which obviously means that the NLD will be required by law to expel their leader, Suu Kyi) highlights more than just a corrupted political structure in Burma. The entire legal and social system in Burma seems corrupted as well and it is obvious that citizens live without basic protection that a government is supposed to provide. The implications of the Suu Kyi trial, go far beyond a criminal political agenda of the regime, it speaks of a wider rot in nearly every institution of Burma.
Suu Kyi stands for truth, her supporters represent the real Burma and they do need the help of the international community to release them from a wide cultural, social, legal and political rot they are seemingly living in. Considering that the legal system of Burma is also highly corrupted and controlled by the Burmese regime, there can be no national solution to the problem. We cannot expect Burmese people or the political process to take its course as political processes are also controlled by the law. In this situation, it is appropriate and even necessary for the international community to act. In some recent developments, as reported by the Guardian and other newspapers, the UN has rightly if too late, called for war crimes investigation against the Burmese rulers and the UN draft calling for such action has pointed out to gross human rights violations that involve Burmese leaders in the executive, military and judiciary at all levels. These violations could be considered as ‘war crimes’ under terms of statute of the International Criminal Court. This means that if there is a large scale support of the UN call for action against Burma and the if there is a ‘war crimes’ investigation, the Burmese leaders could face the possibility of being tried and convicted by the International community.
The UK government has already supported the UN move to refer to the Burmese military government to the International Criminal Court. Although Barack Obama’s government has been maintaining increased diplomatic pressure on Burma, it is possible that the US would finally support a war crimes investigation albeit with some initial hesitation. Supporting a war crimes investigation could be well in accordance with the US political interests. Burma maintains close military ties with Pyongyang and Beijing, a fact that the US may not be too comfortable with. France and other European nations could follow the British policy and they are expected to support the UN move as well. The UN report now means that tables are turning and that the days of the Burmese junta are limited. This could also suggest that after years of waiting there is finally a promise of action from the International Community and this call for action has come only a day after it was all too clear that the judiciary of Burma is ready to change laws to keep Suu Kyi away from the political process altogether.
Burma represents a modern day lesson of truth against injustice, human rights against oppression and highlights all the values that humanity should rightly stand for. The Burmese military leaders may have played the game too long and now they have even taken it a bit too far, but with the actions of US, UK, European nations and the UN, Aung San Suu Kyi and her party who stand for not just the basic survival of the Burmese people but also the noble virtues of humanity could definitely have the final laugh.
Saberi Roy - 4/2/2010
There are many new twists in the tale of Aung San Suu Kyi’s eternal house arrest in Burma. The Burmese leader has been imprisoned for more than 10 years continuously and more than 14 years during the last 20 years and it was widely expected that she will find ways to participate in the next Burmese elections and her political party the NLD will overthrow the Burmese military regime. It is now reported that new Burmese law requires political parties to expel members who had court conviction if they want to participate in elections and this new law has led NLD to boycott the forthcoming elections.
It seems that laws in Burma can be changed in accordance with the needs of the military regime which suggests that the legal process in Burma is itself a sham and has no credibility. Even the Supreme Court rejected Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal for release from her more than ten years of house arrest without giving any reasons. The legal system being completely in the hands of the junta, the credibility of the country and its government is highly questionable. In fact the legal system of any country is first answerable to law, justice and the people and the Burmese judiciary makes a joke of these very concepts that a legal structure is based on. The foundation of any country is based primarily on the legal system and if citizens of a nation cannot depend on the law, they have no support structure, no guarantee for protection against crimes.
The decision of the Supreme Court and the new law that requires Burmese political parties to expel members with court conviction (which obviously means that the NLD will be required by law to expel their leader, Suu Kyi) highlights more than just a corrupted political structure in Burma. The entire legal and social system in Burma seems corrupted as well and it is obvious that citizens live without basic protection that a government is supposed to provide. The implications of the Suu Kyi trial, go far beyond a criminal political agenda of the regime, it speaks of a wider rot in nearly every institution of Burma.
Suu Kyi stands for truth, her supporters represent the real Burma and they do need the help of the international community to release them from a wide cultural, social, legal and political rot they are seemingly living in. Considering that the legal system of Burma is also highly corrupted and controlled by the Burmese regime, there can be no national solution to the problem. We cannot expect Burmese people or the political process to take its course as political processes are also controlled by the law. In this situation, it is appropriate and even necessary for the international community to act. In some recent developments, as reported by the Guardian and other newspapers, the UN has rightly if too late, called for war crimes investigation against the Burmese rulers and the UN draft calling for such action has pointed out to gross human rights violations that involve Burmese leaders in the executive, military and judiciary at all levels. These violations could be considered as ‘war crimes’ under terms of statute of the International Criminal Court. This means that if there is a large scale support of the UN call for action against Burma and the if there is a ‘war crimes’ investigation, the Burmese leaders could face the possibility of being tried and convicted by the International community.
The UK government has already supported the UN move to refer to the Burmese military government to the International Criminal Court. Although Barack Obama’s government has been maintaining increased diplomatic pressure on Burma, it is possible that the US would finally support a war crimes investigation albeit with some initial hesitation. Supporting a war crimes investigation could be well in accordance with the US political interests. Burma maintains close military ties with Pyongyang and Beijing, a fact that the US may not be too comfortable with. France and other European nations could follow the British policy and they are expected to support the UN move as well. The UN report now means that tables are turning and that the days of the Burmese junta are limited. This could also suggest that after years of waiting there is finally a promise of action from the International Community and this call for action has come only a day after it was all too clear that the judiciary of Burma is ready to change laws to keep Suu Kyi away from the political process altogether.
Burma represents a modern day lesson of truth against injustice, human rights against oppression and highlights all the values that humanity should rightly stand for. The Burmese military leaders may have played the game too long and now they have even taken it a bit too far, but with the actions of US, UK, European nations and the UN, Aung San Suu Kyi and her party who stand for not just the basic survival of the Burmese people but also the noble virtues of humanity could definitely have the final laugh.
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Asian Tribune - Democracy in Burma will Strengthen ASEAN
Fri, 2010-04-02 00:53 — editor
By Nehginpao Kipgen
The goal of an emerging regional alliance, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is to develop itself like a European-style single market by 2015. The bloc has a market of more than 530 million people but accounts for only 6 percent of world exports.
The 10-member association includes Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar), Laos and Cambodia.
Leaders of the bloc are scheduled to meet at the 16th ASEAN Summit in Hanoi from April 8 to 9. The meeting is expected to discuss the promotion of regional connectivity and strengthening cooperation between ASEAN and its partners.
The international outrage arising out of the recent announcement of electoral laws in Burma, one of ASEAN members, is also likely to be discussed, either formally or informally.
The election law announced on March 10 prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party. It prevents hundreds of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi who is the general secretary of National League for Democracy (NLD).
While many politicians and student leaders had been imprisoned in recent years, Suu Kyi was convicted of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence in August last year, and was subsequently sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest.
The laws announced on March 11 deprived Suu Kyi and other political prisoners of voting rights. Anyone convicted of crimes of barred from the polls. The law also formally invalidated the 1990 general election result, saying that the 1989 election law under which those polls were held was repealed by the new legislation.
The NLD, which won 392 seats in the 492-member assembly in the 1990 general election, is a target of the military junta. The election law presents an option whether the party should register for the upcoming election by expelling its convicted leaders or face de-registration.
The development of these lopsided electoral laws entailed the U.N. Security Council to hold closed-door talks on March 24. The meeting, called by Britain, marked the first time the council discussed political developments in the military-ruled Burma since last August.
Mark Lyall Grant, Britain's U.N. envoy, said many council members voiced concern on Burma’s electoral laws "which fall well short of what the international community expected in a free and fair process and fell short of the expectations set up in previous (council) statements."
The U.N. secretary general also discussed the latest developments with Group of Friends of Myanmar at the U.N. headquarters on March 25. The group includes Australia, Britain, China, the European Union, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
While many in the international community have expressed outrage and concerns at the conduct of the Burmese military junta, ASEAN, as a bloc, still maintains reticence.
Of the 10 members, only the Philippines and Indonesia have openly commented on the electoral laws. On March 11, Alberto Romulo, foreign secretary of the Philippines, said, "unless they release Aung San Suu Kyi and allow her and her party to participate in elections, it's a complete farce and therefore contrary to their roadmap to democracy.”
It was ASEAN which had been critical of the Western nations’ sanctions and isolation policy toward Burma. Since September of last year, the United States government has embarked on engagement policy. However, there has not been any tangible commitment from ASEAN members to help resolve the decades-old conflicts within its own member state.
As a responsible regional bloc, ASEAN needs to break its silence on human rights abuses and deny of fundamental political rights in Burma. Standing up to tackle problems of its members will improve the bloc’s image and capability as a respectable international organization.
Any pragmatic initiative of ASEAN in attempts to find a democratic solution in Burma in no doubt will garner the support of the good offices of the U.N. secretary general.
Until a genuine democratic society where the rights of every ethnic nationality are established within its member state, ASEAN is unlikely to see a successful and thriving regional bloc.
ASEAN is not asked to expel Burma from the regional bloc, but rather urged to engage the country (not just the military leaders) to help find solutions to the longest armed conflicts in the entire Southeast Asia.
Nehginpao Kipgen is a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma (1947-2004) and general secretary of the U.S.-based Kuki International Forum.
Fri, 2010-04-02 00:53 — editor
By Nehginpao Kipgen
The goal of an emerging regional alliance, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is to develop itself like a European-style single market by 2015. The bloc has a market of more than 530 million people but accounts for only 6 percent of world exports.
The 10-member association includes Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar), Laos and Cambodia.
Leaders of the bloc are scheduled to meet at the 16th ASEAN Summit in Hanoi from April 8 to 9. The meeting is expected to discuss the promotion of regional connectivity and strengthening cooperation between ASEAN and its partners.
The international outrage arising out of the recent announcement of electoral laws in Burma, one of ASEAN members, is also likely to be discussed, either formally or informally.
The election law announced on March 10 prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of a political party. It prevents hundreds of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi who is the general secretary of National League for Democracy (NLD).
While many politicians and student leaders had been imprisoned in recent years, Suu Kyi was convicted of violating the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside residence in August last year, and was subsequently sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest.
The laws announced on March 11 deprived Suu Kyi and other political prisoners of voting rights. Anyone convicted of crimes of barred from the polls. The law also formally invalidated the 1990 general election result, saying that the 1989 election law under which those polls were held was repealed by the new legislation.
The NLD, which won 392 seats in the 492-member assembly in the 1990 general election, is a target of the military junta. The election law presents an option whether the party should register for the upcoming election by expelling its convicted leaders or face de-registration.
The development of these lopsided electoral laws entailed the U.N. Security Council to hold closed-door talks on March 24. The meeting, called by Britain, marked the first time the council discussed political developments in the military-ruled Burma since last August.
Mark Lyall Grant, Britain's U.N. envoy, said many council members voiced concern on Burma’s electoral laws "which fall well short of what the international community expected in a free and fair process and fell short of the expectations set up in previous (council) statements."
The U.N. secretary general also discussed the latest developments with Group of Friends of Myanmar at the U.N. headquarters on March 25. The group includes Australia, Britain, China, the European Union, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
While many in the international community have expressed outrage and concerns at the conduct of the Burmese military junta, ASEAN, as a bloc, still maintains reticence.
Of the 10 members, only the Philippines and Indonesia have openly commented on the electoral laws. On March 11, Alberto Romulo, foreign secretary of the Philippines, said, "unless they release Aung San Suu Kyi and allow her and her party to participate in elections, it's a complete farce and therefore contrary to their roadmap to democracy.”
It was ASEAN which had been critical of the Western nations’ sanctions and isolation policy toward Burma. Since September of last year, the United States government has embarked on engagement policy. However, there has not been any tangible commitment from ASEAN members to help resolve the decades-old conflicts within its own member state.
As a responsible regional bloc, ASEAN needs to break its silence on human rights abuses and deny of fundamental political rights in Burma. Standing up to tackle problems of its members will improve the bloc’s image and capability as a respectable international organization.
Any pragmatic initiative of ASEAN in attempts to find a democratic solution in Burma in no doubt will garner the support of the good offices of the U.N. secretary general.
Until a genuine democratic society where the rights of every ethnic nationality are established within its member state, ASEAN is unlikely to see a successful and thriving regional bloc.
ASEAN is not asked to expel Burma from the regional bloc, but rather urged to engage the country (not just the military leaders) to help find solutions to the longest armed conflicts in the entire Southeast Asia.
Nehginpao Kipgen is a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma (1947-2004) and general secretary of the U.S.-based Kuki International Forum.
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People's Daily Online - Myanmar forms more border guard forces ahead of election
15:48, April 02, 2010
The Myanmar government has formed more border guard forces in two areas in the country's Shan state- East under the command of the government forces, a state-run daily reported Friday.
The two areas, where such forces were established, are Pungpahkyem in Mongton township and Mongyu in Mongyawng township in the state, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The report did not specify the former leadership of the border guard forces.
Shan state-East falls within the state's special region-4, which is also known as Mongla region where a peace group, the National Democratic Alliance Force (NDAF), was resettled after it ceasefired with the government in June 1989, becoming one of the 17 anti-government ethnic armed groups which have made peace with the government since 1988.
The formation of the border guard forces in the two areas came after the government enacted a set of five electoral laws last month to be based for the coming multi-party general election.
Prior to this, three former ethnic peace groups had been transformed by the government to such border guard forces under its command in late last year. They are New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) in Kachin State Special Region-1, Kayinni Nationalities People's Liberation Front (KNPLF) in Kayah State Special Region-2 in November and Kokang Army in Shan State (North) Special Region-1 in the northeast in December.
The NDA-K, led by Sakhone Ting Ying, ceased fire with the government in December 1989, while the KNPLF in May 1994 and the Kokang ethnic army in March 1989.
These peace groups were allowed since then to retain arms and enjoy conditional self-administration.
Under the government's fifth step of its seven-step roadmap announced in 2003, a multi-party democracy general election is to be held later this year in accordance with the 2008 new state constitution to produce parliament representatives and form a new civilian government to which the state power is said to be transferred.
15:48, April 02, 2010
The Myanmar government has formed more border guard forces in two areas in the country's Shan state- East under the command of the government forces, a state-run daily reported Friday.
The two areas, where such forces were established, are Pungpahkyem in Mongton township and Mongyu in Mongyawng township in the state, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The report did not specify the former leadership of the border guard forces.
Shan state-East falls within the state's special region-4, which is also known as Mongla region where a peace group, the National Democratic Alliance Force (NDAF), was resettled after it ceasefired with the government in June 1989, becoming one of the 17 anti-government ethnic armed groups which have made peace with the government since 1988.
The formation of the border guard forces in the two areas came after the government enacted a set of five electoral laws last month to be based for the coming multi-party general election.
Prior to this, three former ethnic peace groups had been transformed by the government to such border guard forces under its command in late last year. They are New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) in Kachin State Special Region-1, Kayinni Nationalities People's Liberation Front (KNPLF) in Kayah State Special Region-2 in November and Kokang Army in Shan State (North) Special Region-1 in the northeast in December.
The NDA-K, led by Sakhone Ting Ying, ceased fire with the government in December 1989, while the KNPLF in May 1994 and the Kokang ethnic army in March 1989.
These peace groups were allowed since then to retain arms and enjoy conditional self-administration.
Under the government's fifth step of its seven-step roadmap announced in 2003, a multi-party democracy general election is to be held later this year in accordance with the 2008 new state constitution to produce parliament representatives and form a new civilian government to which the state power is said to be transferred.
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The Irrawaddy - Uncertain Future for NLD in Wake of Election Decision
By WAI MOE - Friday, April 2, 2010
Senior leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma's main opposition party, will meet next Monday for their first meeting since deciding earlier this week not to register for this year's planned election—a move that could spell the end for the party that has led the country's democracy movement for the past 22 years.
Since the decision was reached at a meeting of party delegates from around the country on Monday, Burmese and foreign observers alike have been wondering how the NLD plans to proceed. So far, however, it has given no indication of what its next move might be.
“We can't say exactly what we will do next, but there are many different ideas. It's something we will have to decide,” said Han Thar Myint, a member of the NLD's Central Executive Committee, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
Asked about the possibility of a crackdown on the NLD now that its legal status is in question under new laws that require parties to register for the election or face dissolution, Han Thar Myint said that even if the party is abolished, its members should not be subject to arrest.
He also dismissed suggestions that the NLD had deliberately raised the stakes by refusing to register the party for the election on the grounds that it would require it to expel members, including its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who are serving sentences for criminal convictions.
“This has nothing to do with the Naung-Yo tactic,” he said, referring to a famous battle in which the 16th century general and future king Bayintnaung burned his troops' rafts to let them know there was no turning back, forcing them to fight to the death.
He said the NLD leaders decided not to register because they had been left with no other choice.
“In practical terms, and as a matter of principle, there was nothing else we could do,” he said.
Since the meeting on March 29, several Western diplomats have visited the NLD's Rangoon headquarters to show their support and to sound out the party's leaders on their future plans, while many ordinary Burmese have also taken a strong interest in the decision, which has so far gone unmentioned in the state-run media.
“People are really paying attention to this,” said a source in Rangoon, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It has completely changed the mood on the street. Everyone wants to know what the NLD will do now.”
He added that many people sympathetic to the NLD's decision to effectively boycott the election are now planning to apply for party membership to show their support.
However, not everyone is happy about the decision.
“I didn't like the decision, but I am loyal to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Khin Maung Swe, an NLD executive who previously advocated registering. He said that he and others who shared his views did not speak out against the decision at the meeting, but privately he expressed the opinion that it was “suicide” for the party.
Similar views were also expressed in the international media.
“A boycott was the only option if the party was to remain true to its democratic ideals. But it was, probably, a mistake,” The Economist wrote in an editorial on March 31, framing the party's choice as being “between political suicide and a crippled half-life as a legal party.”
In The New Yorker, George Packer wrote: “[T]he regime is still doing best: by its own brutal rigidity, forcing the opposition into a rigid and, perhaps, a self-defeating response.”
Some Burmese political observers also said that the NLD show have taken a more strategic approach.
“They could have bought time until the deadline and applied for registration without expelling Suu Kyi,” said one Burmese exile. “Then the regime would have been forced to reject the party under its own laws.”
“That would have exposed the oppression of regime and given international players time to intervene. And it would have changed the headlines from 'NLD rejects the election' to 'NLD rejected by regime.'”
By WAI MOE - Friday, April 2, 2010
Senior leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma's main opposition party, will meet next Monday for their first meeting since deciding earlier this week not to register for this year's planned election—a move that could spell the end for the party that has led the country's democracy movement for the past 22 years.
Since the decision was reached at a meeting of party delegates from around the country on Monday, Burmese and foreign observers alike have been wondering how the NLD plans to proceed. So far, however, it has given no indication of what its next move might be.
“We can't say exactly what we will do next, but there are many different ideas. It's something we will have to decide,” said Han Thar Myint, a member of the NLD's Central Executive Committee, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
Asked about the possibility of a crackdown on the NLD now that its legal status is in question under new laws that require parties to register for the election or face dissolution, Han Thar Myint said that even if the party is abolished, its members should not be subject to arrest.
He also dismissed suggestions that the NLD had deliberately raised the stakes by refusing to register the party for the election on the grounds that it would require it to expel members, including its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who are serving sentences for criminal convictions.
“This has nothing to do with the Naung-Yo tactic,” he said, referring to a famous battle in which the 16th century general and future king Bayintnaung burned his troops' rafts to let them know there was no turning back, forcing them to fight to the death.
He said the NLD leaders decided not to register because they had been left with no other choice.
“In practical terms, and as a matter of principle, there was nothing else we could do,” he said.
Since the meeting on March 29, several Western diplomats have visited the NLD's Rangoon headquarters to show their support and to sound out the party's leaders on their future plans, while many ordinary Burmese have also taken a strong interest in the decision, which has so far gone unmentioned in the state-run media.
“People are really paying attention to this,” said a source in Rangoon, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It has completely changed the mood on the street. Everyone wants to know what the NLD will do now.”
He added that many people sympathetic to the NLD's decision to effectively boycott the election are now planning to apply for party membership to show their support.
However, not everyone is happy about the decision.
“I didn't like the decision, but I am loyal to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Khin Maung Swe, an NLD executive who previously advocated registering. He said that he and others who shared his views did not speak out against the decision at the meeting, but privately he expressed the opinion that it was “suicide” for the party.
Similar views were also expressed in the international media.
“A boycott was the only option if the party was to remain true to its democratic ideals. But it was, probably, a mistake,” The Economist wrote in an editorial on March 31, framing the party's choice as being “between political suicide and a crippled half-life as a legal party.”
In The New Yorker, George Packer wrote: “[T]he regime is still doing best: by its own brutal rigidity, forcing the opposition into a rigid and, perhaps, a self-defeating response.”
Some Burmese political observers also said that the NLD show have taken a more strategic approach.
“They could have bought time until the deadline and applied for registration without expelling Suu Kyi,” said one Burmese exile. “Then the regime would have been forced to reject the party under its own laws.”
“That would have exposed the oppression of regime and given international players time to intervene. And it would have changed the headlines from 'NLD rejects the election' to 'NLD rejected by regime.'”
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The Irrawaddy - Living in a Dangerous Land
By ALEX ELLGEE - Thursday, April 1, 2010
MAE SOT, Thailand—It was coming up to midday and the sun beat down through the still forest. Careful not to disturb the peace, Saw Htoo crept through carrying his bow and arrow. He had spotted a bird suitable for eating, and was fast on its trail.
Suddenly, the forest sounds were disturbed by an explosion near Saw Htoo’s village, and the bird flew away. In a place where explosions can only be one thing, he raced towards the sound.
He saw his two grandchildren lying on the ground. He knew right away the younger boy, five years old, was dead—the injuries were severe. His other grandchild was alive, and there was a chance to save him.
On a stretcher made of bamboo, he was carried to Thailand and placed in the Mae Sot intensive care unit where he now lies bruised, bandaged and semi-conscious.
“I am so devastated that this has happened, but I can’t do anything to change the past,”Saw Htoo told The Irrawaddy, as he watched over the boy lying in a hospital bed. “I have lost one of my grandchildren, but I must do everything I can now to look after my other one.”
The two children had gone out to play when they came across a metal object and did not recognize it as a mortar shell.
Not knowing what it was, they hit it with sticks until the shell exploded.
Saw Htoo, not his real name, and his family were part of the mass Karen exodus from the former KNU headquarters at seventh brigade. In June 2009, when DKBA troops, led by Col Chit Thu, prepared to attack, they fled to Thailand to escape the fighting.
While the fighting continued, they sought refuge in Mae U Su temporary camp on Thai soil. Soon after the DKBA had taken 7th brigade, Saw Htoo said he stopped receiving food rations and then the Thai army told him that he had to return to his home.
“We told the army that we didn’t want to go back, and we were scared of landmines but they didn’t listen. They just told us the war was over so we have to return,” said Saw Htoo.
Refugees were marched down to the river by Thai soldiers and ordered back. On the day he returned, Saw Htoo said he was immediately conscripted as a porter by the DKBA.
On Monday, the same day his grandson was killed, the last of his refugee group left the three main temporary Karen camps. Many have gone back to Burma, while some remain in Thailand.
The Karen Human Rights Group reports that Noe Boh camp, which originally had 1,111 residents in November 2009 is now empty. In Mae U Su, there were 1,573 residents last November. Now there are less than 20 households, who plan to leave this week.
In February, the Thai government announced that it would repatriate all the Karen refugees to Burma because hostilities have stopped. The circumstance surrounding the return of the refugees has come under heavy criticism from local NGOs and the international community. The Thai government has been criticized for involuntarily returning the refugees to a dangerous area.
In an interview on Tuesday, one Karen villager said no one wanted to return to Burma.
“The people who went back yesterday, they didn't want to go back but the Thai soldiers always threaten them. So, we all think that it is better to go back in our villages,” said a man in Oo Thu Hta camp.
A local NGO worker who has monitored the situation closely said: “Numerous families told us that they are scared to leave, that their villages are not safe but they feel they have no other option and cannot stay in Thailand so they must go back to Burma. Everyone I spoke with in Noe Boh told me this, and it was the same for my colleague at Mae U Su.”
Commenting on the repatriation of the refugees, Matthew Finch of KHRG, told The Irrawaddy that he believed it wasn’t voluntary, but rather the result of months of pressure on the refugees.
“Aid workers have all said the families that they have spoken with are scared to return to their villages, and they don’t think their villages are safe but they feel they have no option to remain in Thailand, so they left.”
A UN refugee group interviewed a large number of the refugees before they left the camps and reported that they all wanted to return. The main reason that most the refugees gave was that they wanted to plant seeds before the season changed.
When asked if she felt that the refugees were leaving because of pressure from the Thai authorities, Kitty McKensey, a UN spokesperson, said: “It is possible that they felt under pressure, everybody knows that Thailand didn’t want them to stay.”
She said the return “shouldn’t be seen as one way trip,” because they can come back to Thailand in the future. Some, she said, have probably already come back and are staying in villages around Tha Song Yang.
However, Saw Htoo’s grandson will not be returning to Thailand. He died because of what many of the refugees were claiming: that their home territory is full of danger, from unexploded shells, to mine fields, to forced conscription, to fire-fights between opposing armies.
Sitting outside the hospital bed where his injured grandson lies, Saw Htoo said the dead grandchild was buried right away. Having lived a life on the run, they were worried they would have to flee before they had time to bury him. He said there was no point waiting, because they couldn’t afford to give him a proper burial.
Remembering his grandson, he said he was like a little monkey.
“He was always hunting for things and had such a creative mind. Even when they sent him to school, he would try to go outside to explore the world.”
By ALEX ELLGEE - Thursday, April 1, 2010
MAE SOT, Thailand—It was coming up to midday and the sun beat down through the still forest. Careful not to disturb the peace, Saw Htoo crept through carrying his bow and arrow. He had spotted a bird suitable for eating, and was fast on its trail.
Suddenly, the forest sounds were disturbed by an explosion near Saw Htoo’s village, and the bird flew away. In a place where explosions can only be one thing, he raced towards the sound.
He saw his two grandchildren lying on the ground. He knew right away the younger boy, five years old, was dead—the injuries were severe. His other grandchild was alive, and there was a chance to save him.
On a stretcher made of bamboo, he was carried to Thailand and placed in the Mae Sot intensive care unit where he now lies bruised, bandaged and semi-conscious.
“I am so devastated that this has happened, but I can’t do anything to change the past,”Saw Htoo told The Irrawaddy, as he watched over the boy lying in a hospital bed. “I have lost one of my grandchildren, but I must do everything I can now to look after my other one.”
The two children had gone out to play when they came across a metal object and did not recognize it as a mortar shell.
Not knowing what it was, they hit it with sticks until the shell exploded.
Saw Htoo, not his real name, and his family were part of the mass Karen exodus from the former KNU headquarters at seventh brigade. In June 2009, when DKBA troops, led by Col Chit Thu, prepared to attack, they fled to Thailand to escape the fighting.
While the fighting continued, they sought refuge in Mae U Su temporary camp on Thai soil. Soon after the DKBA had taken 7th brigade, Saw Htoo said he stopped receiving food rations and then the Thai army told him that he had to return to his home.
“We told the army that we didn’t want to go back, and we were scared of landmines but they didn’t listen. They just told us the war was over so we have to return,” said Saw Htoo.
Refugees were marched down to the river by Thai soldiers and ordered back. On the day he returned, Saw Htoo said he was immediately conscripted as a porter by the DKBA.
On Monday, the same day his grandson was killed, the last of his refugee group left the three main temporary Karen camps. Many have gone back to Burma, while some remain in Thailand.
The Karen Human Rights Group reports that Noe Boh camp, which originally had 1,111 residents in November 2009 is now empty. In Mae U Su, there were 1,573 residents last November. Now there are less than 20 households, who plan to leave this week.
In February, the Thai government announced that it would repatriate all the Karen refugees to Burma because hostilities have stopped. The circumstance surrounding the return of the refugees has come under heavy criticism from local NGOs and the international community. The Thai government has been criticized for involuntarily returning the refugees to a dangerous area.
In an interview on Tuesday, one Karen villager said no one wanted to return to Burma.
“The people who went back yesterday, they didn't want to go back but the Thai soldiers always threaten them. So, we all think that it is better to go back in our villages,” said a man in Oo Thu Hta camp.
A local NGO worker who has monitored the situation closely said: “Numerous families told us that they are scared to leave, that their villages are not safe but they feel they have no other option and cannot stay in Thailand so they must go back to Burma. Everyone I spoke with in Noe Boh told me this, and it was the same for my colleague at Mae U Su.”
Commenting on the repatriation of the refugees, Matthew Finch of KHRG, told The Irrawaddy that he believed it wasn’t voluntary, but rather the result of months of pressure on the refugees.
“Aid workers have all said the families that they have spoken with are scared to return to their villages, and they don’t think their villages are safe but they feel they have no option to remain in Thailand, so they left.”
A UN refugee group interviewed a large number of the refugees before they left the camps and reported that they all wanted to return. The main reason that most the refugees gave was that they wanted to plant seeds before the season changed.
When asked if she felt that the refugees were leaving because of pressure from the Thai authorities, Kitty McKensey, a UN spokesperson, said: “It is possible that they felt under pressure, everybody knows that Thailand didn’t want them to stay.”
She said the return “shouldn’t be seen as one way trip,” because they can come back to Thailand in the future. Some, she said, have probably already come back and are staying in villages around Tha Song Yang.
However, Saw Htoo’s grandson will not be returning to Thailand. He died because of what many of the refugees were claiming: that their home territory is full of danger, from unexploded shells, to mine fields, to forced conscription, to fire-fights between opposing armies.
Sitting outside the hospital bed where his injured grandson lies, Saw Htoo said the dead grandchild was buried right away. Having lived a life on the run, they were worried they would have to flee before they had time to bury him. He said there was no point waiting, because they couldn’t afford to give him a proper burial.
Remembering his grandson, he said he was like a little monkey.
“He was always hunting for things and had such a creative mind. Even when they sent him to school, he would try to go outside to explore the world.”
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Chairman of Burma’s Election Commission on EU blacklist
Friday, 02 April 2010 14:20 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Deputy Supreme Court Judge Thein Soe, the newly appointed Chairman of Burma's Election Commission is on the EU’s blacklist of sanctions. The list, which targets key members of Burma’s military regime also includes Dr. Tin Aung Aye, a fellow Supreme Court Judge, and also a member of the EC.
Judges Thein Soe, Dr. Tin Aung Aye and other members on the blacklist including notorious junta crony Tay Zaw, are banned from traveling to the European Union. They are also subject to a freeze on any financial assets they may have in Europe. As such they cannot undertake financial transactions with European based financial institutions.
The two judges and other senior members of the Burmese regime’s judiciary were added to the EU's sanctions list following the outcome of Aung San Suu Kyi's August 2009 trial in which she was convicted of flouting the terms of her house arrest after an uninvited American man swam to her home.
According to the EU Council, members of the Burmese judiciary were targeted because of the “gravity of the violation of the fundamental rights of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Council considers it appropriate to include the members of the judiciary responsible for the verdict in the list of persons and entities subject to a travel ban and to an asset freeze".
Before becoming a judge Thein Soe was in Burma's armed forces as a Major General and was a military Judge Advocate General. In 2003 he was appointed to Burma's National Convention led by former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt. In October 2007 Dr. Tin Aung Aye was appointed to the commission for drafting the State Constitution. According to the regime’s state constitution committee announcement, Dr. Tin Aung Aye received both his master’s and doctorate of law in Germany.
Friday, 02 April 2010 14:20 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Deputy Supreme Court Judge Thein Soe, the newly appointed Chairman of Burma's Election Commission is on the EU’s blacklist of sanctions. The list, which targets key members of Burma’s military regime also includes Dr. Tin Aung Aye, a fellow Supreme Court Judge, and also a member of the EC.
Judges Thein Soe, Dr. Tin Aung Aye and other members on the blacklist including notorious junta crony Tay Zaw, are banned from traveling to the European Union. They are also subject to a freeze on any financial assets they may have in Europe. As such they cannot undertake financial transactions with European based financial institutions.
The two judges and other senior members of the Burmese regime’s judiciary were added to the EU's sanctions list following the outcome of Aung San Suu Kyi's August 2009 trial in which she was convicted of flouting the terms of her house arrest after an uninvited American man swam to her home.
According to the EU Council, members of the Burmese judiciary were targeted because of the “gravity of the violation of the fundamental rights of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Council considers it appropriate to include the members of the judiciary responsible for the verdict in the list of persons and entities subject to a travel ban and to an asset freeze".
Before becoming a judge Thein Soe was in Burma's armed forces as a Major General and was a military Judge Advocate General. In 2003 he was appointed to Burma's National Convention led by former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt. In October 2007 Dr. Tin Aung Aye was appointed to the commission for drafting the State Constitution. According to the regime’s state constitution committee announcement, Dr. Tin Aung Aye received both his master’s and doctorate of law in Germany.
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NLD to plunge itself headlong into social work
Friday, 02 April 2010 21:43 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – On the heels of its decision not to register with the Election Commission (EC) the National League for Democracy (NLD) is exploring ways to increase interaction with people and plunge itself headlong into more and more social work as part of the party’s future activities.
“We will continue with our international relations and at the same time work for the people. We will work for the welfare of the people and serve them,” NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Win Tin told Mizzima.
For instance, NLD will work for HIV/AIDS patients and provide assistance to political prisoners, he said.
The Committee for Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP) held its meeting today at the NLD party headquarters in Shwegondaing, Rangoon and discussed doing social work in cooperation with NLD, ethnic political parties and other allies.
Protesting the junta’s harsh and vindictive electoral laws, NLD decided not to register with the EC. After the deadline on registration, in the electoral laws, the party will cease to be a legal party raising questions about its fate in the Burmese political mosaic.
“We discussed the NLD’s political stand and how to cooperate with ethnic political parties in future,” CRPP Secretary Aye Thar Aung said.
The CRPP meeting was attended by NLD Chairman Aung Shwe, Vice-Chairman Tin Oo, CEC members, ethnic leaders Aye Thar Aung, Pu Cing Tsian Thang, Thaug Ko Thang among other CRPP members.
“All of us respect the NLD’s political stand. We are proud of the party. We discussed cooperation between NLD and CRPP,” Aye Thar Aung said.
The delegates who attended today’s meeting discussed and exchanged views on the party’s stand of continuing to operate as a political party even though the junta seeks to abolish it.
Friday, 02 April 2010 21:43 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – On the heels of its decision not to register with the Election Commission (EC) the National League for Democracy (NLD) is exploring ways to increase interaction with people and plunge itself headlong into more and more social work as part of the party’s future activities.
“We will continue with our international relations and at the same time work for the people. We will work for the welfare of the people and serve them,” NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Win Tin told Mizzima.
For instance, NLD will work for HIV/AIDS patients and provide assistance to political prisoners, he said.
The Committee for Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP) held its meeting today at the NLD party headquarters in Shwegondaing, Rangoon and discussed doing social work in cooperation with NLD, ethnic political parties and other allies.
Protesting the junta’s harsh and vindictive electoral laws, NLD decided not to register with the EC. After the deadline on registration, in the electoral laws, the party will cease to be a legal party raising questions about its fate in the Burmese political mosaic.
“We discussed the NLD’s political stand and how to cooperate with ethnic political parties in future,” CRPP Secretary Aye Thar Aung said.
The CRPP meeting was attended by NLD Chairman Aung Shwe, Vice-Chairman Tin Oo, CEC members, ethnic leaders Aye Thar Aung, Pu Cing Tsian Thang, Thaug Ko Thang among other CRPP members.
“All of us respect the NLD’s political stand. We are proud of the party. We discussed cooperation between NLD and CRPP,” Aye Thar Aung said.
The delegates who attended today’s meeting discussed and exchanged views on the party’s stand of continuing to operate as a political party even though the junta seeks to abolish it.
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DVB News - Elections ‘may hinder’ aid to Burma
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 2 April 2010
Concerns have arisen over the possibility that overseas aid flows into Burma may be increasingly restricted this year as the junta looks to limit the number of foreigners in the country in the run-up to elections.
Although much of the international community has quietly voiced a desire to increase aid to Burma, currently one of the lowest recipients of aid in Southeast Asia as a result of sanctions, this may not be altogether welcomed by the junta.
“We know that visas in the past couple of months have been difficult to obtain for aid workers and we expect more of this in the next couple of months,” Benjamin Zawacki, Burma researcher at Amnesty International, told DVB.
He added that it may not be a “sinister” politicisation of aid by the junta but rather an unwillingness “to have foreigners in the country at the time of the elections”.
If the fears become reality, it would mirror the aftermath of cyclone Nargis in May 2008 when the government, afraid of the scale of the disaster reaching an international audience, initially barred the majority of journalists and aid workers from entering the stricken Irrawaddy delta, likely contributing to the eventual 140,000 death toll.
And despite the country still reeling from its worst natural disaster in recorded history, the government in the weeks following Nargis rushed through a constitutional referendum which set the ball rolling for the elections this year.
“That was a very stark example of what the government is capable of in terms of prioritising its own interests over the interests of the people,” said Zawacki.
But, according to James East, regional communications advisor at World Vision aid group, which has some 700 staff working inside Burma, the elections could in fact open the country’s humanitarian corridor.
“I think the international community is seeking for ways to engage, and yes there may be issues along the way, but the sense from the diplomatic community is that the electoral process may lead to an opportunity for increased engagement,” he said.
Analysts have said that, despite the results of the elections likely being a foregone conclusion, they should be seen as an acknowledgement by government that it needs a semblance of legitimacy on the international stage, something it has previously disregarded.
Moreover, the junta has already made tentative steps towards opening up to the international community, whether purely cosmetic or not, with several high-profile visits by US politicians in the past six months.
But, according to East, there is an issue among Western governments of balancing the desire to get aid into the country and maintaining tight sanctions on the military rulers.
“The sanctions movement has been very strong, and governments are worried about upsetting the pro-sanctions group,” he said, adding however that there has been an opinion shift regarding sanctions, largely due to a new understanding of the realities in Asia where “public confrontation is not as effective as relationship building”.
Zawacki said however that Burma’s political crisis should have no bearing on the amount of aid given to the country.
“These two issues should not be mixed; they have been mixed by the [Burmese] government itself but that’s not an issue that the international community should respond to in a tit-for-tat way.”
He added that there is “no justification for holding the majority of the population hostage to political concerns when humanitarian imperatives dictate that aid must get through”.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 2 April 2010
Concerns have arisen over the possibility that overseas aid flows into Burma may be increasingly restricted this year as the junta looks to limit the number of foreigners in the country in the run-up to elections.
Although much of the international community has quietly voiced a desire to increase aid to Burma, currently one of the lowest recipients of aid in Southeast Asia as a result of sanctions, this may not be altogether welcomed by the junta.
“We know that visas in the past couple of months have been difficult to obtain for aid workers and we expect more of this in the next couple of months,” Benjamin Zawacki, Burma researcher at Amnesty International, told DVB.
He added that it may not be a “sinister” politicisation of aid by the junta but rather an unwillingness “to have foreigners in the country at the time of the elections”.
If the fears become reality, it would mirror the aftermath of cyclone Nargis in May 2008 when the government, afraid of the scale of the disaster reaching an international audience, initially barred the majority of journalists and aid workers from entering the stricken Irrawaddy delta, likely contributing to the eventual 140,000 death toll.
And despite the country still reeling from its worst natural disaster in recorded history, the government in the weeks following Nargis rushed through a constitutional referendum which set the ball rolling for the elections this year.
“That was a very stark example of what the government is capable of in terms of prioritising its own interests over the interests of the people,” said Zawacki.
But, according to James East, regional communications advisor at World Vision aid group, which has some 700 staff working inside Burma, the elections could in fact open the country’s humanitarian corridor.
“I think the international community is seeking for ways to engage, and yes there may be issues along the way, but the sense from the diplomatic community is that the electoral process may lead to an opportunity for increased engagement,” he said.
Analysts have said that, despite the results of the elections likely being a foregone conclusion, they should be seen as an acknowledgement by government that it needs a semblance of legitimacy on the international stage, something it has previously disregarded.
Moreover, the junta has already made tentative steps towards opening up to the international community, whether purely cosmetic or not, with several high-profile visits by US politicians in the past six months.
But, according to East, there is an issue among Western governments of balancing the desire to get aid into the country and maintaining tight sanctions on the military rulers.
“The sanctions movement has been very strong, and governments are worried about upsetting the pro-sanctions group,” he said, adding however that there has been an opinion shift regarding sanctions, largely due to a new understanding of the realities in Asia where “public confrontation is not as effective as relationship building”.
Zawacki said however that Burma’s political crisis should have no bearing on the amount of aid given to the country.
“These two issues should not be mixed; they have been mixed by the [Burmese] government itself but that’s not an issue that the international community should respond to in a tit-for-tat way.”
He added that there is “no justification for holding the majority of the population hostage to political concerns when humanitarian imperatives dictate that aid must get through”.
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DVB News - Thais to press Burma on ‘discriminatory’ polls
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 2 April 2010
Thailand’s foreign minister Kasit Piromya has said that the Thai delegation to a regional summit of leaders in Hanoi next week will press the Burmese junta on the issue of the elections, expressing their desire for an inclusive poll.
“I’m concerned about the national reconciliation and the inclusiveness of the whole new political process [in Burma],” Piromya told AP, offering a forewarning of his likely stance at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. Burma’s prime minister Thein Sein is also due to attend the summit, while the Thai delegation will be led by prime minister Abhisit Vejajjiva.
Piromya will also host regional foreign ministers at a Greater Mekong Subregion meeting in Thailand, scheduled to start on Sunday, where his Burmese counterpart, Nyan Win, is also due.
The Thai foreign minister spoke in unison with other world leaders when he expressed sympathy with the Burmese opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s decision on Monday to not contest the upcoming poll, telling AP that “I honour and I respect that decision”.
The NLD has decided to boycott the elections, citing “unjust” laws that bar party leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running and require her expulsion if the party is to participate.
Despite the fact that Burma’s controversial elections will feature highly at the Hanoi summit next week, the ASEAN bloc is expected to stick to its ‘non-interference policy’ that has frustrated democracy activists.
Roshan Jason, executive director of the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) lobby group, earlier told DVB that: “I think [ASEAN] will just advise the government” instead of taking more drastic action, such as removing the country from the regional bloc.
Thailand for its part has remained a vocal yet inactive neighbour when it comes to democracy in Burma, with expanding bilateral trade showing no signs of abating.
Piromya had in February offered Thai support to the election process, proposing monitors to travel to the country and to train election officials. Needless to say the generals have rejected all foreign advances of election help.
Both Piromya and his Thai government colleague, Kraisak Choonhavan, also of the AIPMC, had stated that a free election was in the interests of neighbouring Thailand, with fears that continued political turmoil in Burma would lead to greater numbers of refugees fleeing into Thailand.
Piromya further said that the election laws “look discriminatory…You are providing amnesty only to the military leadership and not to the rest of the political opposition side of it”, according to AP.
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 2 April 2010
Thailand’s foreign minister Kasit Piromya has said that the Thai delegation to a regional summit of leaders in Hanoi next week will press the Burmese junta on the issue of the elections, expressing their desire for an inclusive poll.
“I’m concerned about the national reconciliation and the inclusiveness of the whole new political process [in Burma],” Piromya told AP, offering a forewarning of his likely stance at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. Burma’s prime minister Thein Sein is also due to attend the summit, while the Thai delegation will be led by prime minister Abhisit Vejajjiva.
Piromya will also host regional foreign ministers at a Greater Mekong Subregion meeting in Thailand, scheduled to start on Sunday, where his Burmese counterpart, Nyan Win, is also due.
The Thai foreign minister spoke in unison with other world leaders when he expressed sympathy with the Burmese opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s decision on Monday to not contest the upcoming poll, telling AP that “I honour and I respect that decision”.
The NLD has decided to boycott the elections, citing “unjust” laws that bar party leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running and require her expulsion if the party is to participate.
Despite the fact that Burma’s controversial elections will feature highly at the Hanoi summit next week, the ASEAN bloc is expected to stick to its ‘non-interference policy’ that has frustrated democracy activists.
Roshan Jason, executive director of the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) lobby group, earlier told DVB that: “I think [ASEAN] will just advise the government” instead of taking more drastic action, such as removing the country from the regional bloc.
Thailand for its part has remained a vocal yet inactive neighbour when it comes to democracy in Burma, with expanding bilateral trade showing no signs of abating.
Piromya had in February offered Thai support to the election process, proposing monitors to travel to the country and to train election officials. Needless to say the generals have rejected all foreign advances of election help.
Both Piromya and his Thai government colleague, Kraisak Choonhavan, also of the AIPMC, had stated that a free election was in the interests of neighbouring Thailand, with fears that continued political turmoil in Burma would lead to greater numbers of refugees fleeing into Thailand.
Piromya further said that the election laws “look discriminatory…You are providing amnesty only to the military leadership and not to the rest of the political opposition side of it”, according to AP.
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