Myanmar ministers to resign from military: government source
By Aung Hla Tun – Tue Apr 27, 3:26 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – At least 20 ministers in Myanmar's ruling junta will resign from the military this week to become civilian politicians ahead of this year's election, a government official said on Tuesday.
"So far as I heard, about 20 ministers ... and some deputy ministers will officially give up their military positions effective this week," a government official told Reuters by telephone from the capital, Naypyitaw.
"However, they will remain in their present cabinet positions for some time," added the official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Among those due to resign from their army posts will be Prime Minister Thein Sein, the official said.
The move means the ministers could potentially take parliamentary seats not included in the 25 percent quota allocated to serving armed forces personnel.
The general election, a date for which has not yet been set, has been widely dismissed as a move by the military to extend its five-decade hold on power by creating a facade of civilian rule.
Under the 2008 constitution passed in a disputed referendum, the armed forces chief will still be the country's most powerful figure and key ministries will remain under military control.
Analysts say the legislature will act only as a rubber stamp for the military's policies and will be dominated by the army and its civilian proxies, with independent lawmakers in the minority and largely powerless.
"It's just part of the military's attempt to secure its grip on state power in the post-election period," a retired senior civil servant said of the resignations from the military. He also requested anonymity.
So far, 19 organizations have requested permission to form political parties to run in the election. Five have been given the go-ahead, most of them believed to be close to the junta.
Only four of the existing 10 parties have applied. The deadline for registration is May 6.
The National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied the chance to rule, announced last month it would boycott this year's polls.
It complained the election rules were unjust and would exclude most of its top politicians, including detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the charismatic NLD leader who analysts say heavily influenced the decision.
The county's biggest party said it would continue to fight for Myanmar's people, even after its dissolution. Many analysts say the move could backfire, playing into the hands of the generals who have long fought to minimize the NLD's influence.
By Aung Hla Tun – Tue Apr 27, 3:26 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – At least 20 ministers in Myanmar's ruling junta will resign from the military this week to become civilian politicians ahead of this year's election, a government official said on Tuesday.
"So far as I heard, about 20 ministers ... and some deputy ministers will officially give up their military positions effective this week," a government official told Reuters by telephone from the capital, Naypyitaw.
"However, they will remain in their present cabinet positions for some time," added the official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Among those due to resign from their army posts will be Prime Minister Thein Sein, the official said.
The move means the ministers could potentially take parliamentary seats not included in the 25 percent quota allocated to serving armed forces personnel.
The general election, a date for which has not yet been set, has been widely dismissed as a move by the military to extend its five-decade hold on power by creating a facade of civilian rule.
Under the 2008 constitution passed in a disputed referendum, the armed forces chief will still be the country's most powerful figure and key ministries will remain under military control.
Analysts say the legislature will act only as a rubber stamp for the military's policies and will be dominated by the army and its civilian proxies, with independent lawmakers in the minority and largely powerless.
"It's just part of the military's attempt to secure its grip on state power in the post-election period," a retired senior civil servant said of the resignations from the military. He also requested anonymity.
So far, 19 organizations have requested permission to form political parties to run in the election. Five have been given the go-ahead, most of them believed to be close to the junta.
Only four of the existing 10 parties have applied. The deadline for registration is May 6.
The National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied the chance to rule, announced last month it would boycott this year's polls.
It complained the election rules were unjust and would exclude most of its top politicians, including detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the charismatic NLD leader who analysts say heavily influenced the decision.
The county's biggest party said it would continue to fight for Myanmar's people, even after its dissolution. Many analysts say the move could backfire, playing into the hands of the generals who have long fought to minimize the NLD's influence.
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Pariah states show warm, fuzzy side at Shanghai Expo
by D'Arcy Doran – Mon Apr 26, 11:33 pm ET
SHANGHAI (AFP) – Wags are already calling it "Axis of Evil Square" -- a corner of Shanghai's World Expo where the North Korean and Iranian pavilions put on a friendly face to the world.
The Expo opening Saturday features a line-up like never before as Chinese allies seen as pariahs in the West -- including Myanmar and Sudan -- join other states trying to show off their accomplishments.
The list shows the wide spectrum of 192 countries that China has brought together for the largest World's Fair yet, attracting every country with diplomatic ties with Beijing except the principality of Andorra.
"I don?t know the name of Expo 2010?s Master Planner, but I?m sure that -- whoever it is -- has a good sense of humour," Shanghai blogger Adam Minter wrote of the pairing of the North Korean and Iranian pavilions as neighbours.
The pavilion of the United States -- which is spearheading efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear capability and halt a suspect Iranian nuclear programme -- is at the opposite end of the site, with China's in between.
It marks the first time North Korea has participated in an Expo. Its pavilion will celebrate the nation's history, culture, folk customs and modern buildings, the official Xinhua news agency said.
It also plans to shed light on life in the secretive country using sculpture, pictures and video.
"The 2010 Shanghai World Expo will be the most sweeping World Expo ever held," the vice chairman of North Korea's Chamber of Commerce, Ri Song Un, told Xinhua last month, adding it would be a chance to work with other countries.
The Pyongyang Art Troupe will take centre stage on the Expo's North Korea Day on September 6, performing fan, drum, and "small bell" dances.
Iran, meanwhile, will display a collection of 152 Persian paintings, photos of its Islamic Revolution and a poster collection focusing on the "environment and mankind", the Tehran Times wrote last week.
The pavilion will also feature video art projects and Pardehkhani, or curtain-reading, in which story-tellers recount tales depicted on a painted curtain, the report said.
"Iran will present the civilization of its cities," Iranian consul-general Mohammad Reza Nazeri said in comments on the official Expo website.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is another largely isolated country heavily dependent on ties with China that aims to use the Expo to give visitors a taste of life inside its borders.
It will use "advanced display methods to introduce local customs, rich resources and brilliant culture of Myanmar," according to the Expo website.
The theme of Sudan's exhibition will be "City and Peace", promoting the war-torn country as a quiet and harmonious place.
A multimedia area will show films on the Naivasha Agreement, or Comprehensive Peace Agreement, that was signed in 2005 and ended a two-decade north-south civil war, the longest in Africa, after the loss of 1.5 million lives.
The peace deal remains fragile, and in a separate conflict, fighting continues in the western Darfur region, where civil war since 2003 has killed some 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN figures.
by D'Arcy Doran – Mon Apr 26, 11:33 pm ET
SHANGHAI (AFP) – Wags are already calling it "Axis of Evil Square" -- a corner of Shanghai's World Expo where the North Korean and Iranian pavilions put on a friendly face to the world.
The Expo opening Saturday features a line-up like never before as Chinese allies seen as pariahs in the West -- including Myanmar and Sudan -- join other states trying to show off their accomplishments.
The list shows the wide spectrum of 192 countries that China has brought together for the largest World's Fair yet, attracting every country with diplomatic ties with Beijing except the principality of Andorra.
"I don?t know the name of Expo 2010?s Master Planner, but I?m sure that -- whoever it is -- has a good sense of humour," Shanghai blogger Adam Minter wrote of the pairing of the North Korean and Iranian pavilions as neighbours.
The pavilion of the United States -- which is spearheading efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear capability and halt a suspect Iranian nuclear programme -- is at the opposite end of the site, with China's in between.
It marks the first time North Korea has participated in an Expo. Its pavilion will celebrate the nation's history, culture, folk customs and modern buildings, the official Xinhua news agency said.
It also plans to shed light on life in the secretive country using sculpture, pictures and video.
"The 2010 Shanghai World Expo will be the most sweeping World Expo ever held," the vice chairman of North Korea's Chamber of Commerce, Ri Song Un, told Xinhua last month, adding it would be a chance to work with other countries.
The Pyongyang Art Troupe will take centre stage on the Expo's North Korea Day on September 6, performing fan, drum, and "small bell" dances.
Iran, meanwhile, will display a collection of 152 Persian paintings, photos of its Islamic Revolution and a poster collection focusing on the "environment and mankind", the Tehran Times wrote last week.
The pavilion will also feature video art projects and Pardehkhani, or curtain-reading, in which story-tellers recount tales depicted on a painted curtain, the report said.
"Iran will present the civilization of its cities," Iranian consul-general Mohammad Reza Nazeri said in comments on the official Expo website.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is another largely isolated country heavily dependent on ties with China that aims to use the Expo to give visitors a taste of life inside its borders.
It will use "advanced display methods to introduce local customs, rich resources and brilliant culture of Myanmar," according to the Expo website.
The theme of Sudan's exhibition will be "City and Peace", promoting the war-torn country as a quiet and harmonious place.
A multimedia area will show films on the Naivasha Agreement, or Comprehensive Peace Agreement, that was signed in 2005 and ended a two-decade north-south civil war, the longest in Africa, after the loss of 1.5 million lives.
The peace deal remains fragile, and in a separate conflict, fighting continues in the western Darfur region, where civil war since 2003 has killed some 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN figures.
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Sin Chew Jit Poh - Four wounded in grenade attack at Myanmar power project
2010-04-27 17:33
YANGON, April 27 (AFP) - A series of grenade blasts hit a hydropower project in Myanmar Tuesday, wounding four workers in the latest unrest in the military-ruled country, officials said.
The attacks occurred at the Thaukyegat hydropower plant under construction in Bago Division, about 220 kilometres (137 miles) northeast of the country's main city Yangon, a local official told AFP.
"Four workers were injured during three grenade attacks at the Thaukyegat hydropower project site," the official said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The Myanmar company behind the project, Asia World Construction, was also involved in a controversial dam project in Kachin State where there was a series of bombs blasts earlier this month, injuring one engineer.
Three other bombs on April 15 hit a water festival in Yangon, in the city's worst attack in five years. The death toll from that attack has now risen to 10 people, with at least 170 people wounded.
Myanmar authorities have arrested some suspects in their search for the perpetrators of those blasts, officials said, but they did not give any further detail as the investigation is still underway.
Myanmar has been hit by several bomb blasts in recent years which the junta has blamed on armed exile groups or ethnic rebels.
The latest attacks come as the country prepares for elections planned for this year, which critics have dismissed as a sham due to the effective barring of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi because she is a serving prisoner.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, partly justifying its grip on power by the need to fend off ethnic rebellions that have plagued remote border areas for decades.
Armed minorities in Karen and Shan states continue to fight the government along the country's eastern border, alleging they are subject to neglect and mistreatment.
2010-04-27 17:33
YANGON, April 27 (AFP) - A series of grenade blasts hit a hydropower project in Myanmar Tuesday, wounding four workers in the latest unrest in the military-ruled country, officials said.
The attacks occurred at the Thaukyegat hydropower plant under construction in Bago Division, about 220 kilometres (137 miles) northeast of the country's main city Yangon, a local official told AFP.
"Four workers were injured during three grenade attacks at the Thaukyegat hydropower project site," the official said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The Myanmar company behind the project, Asia World Construction, was also involved in a controversial dam project in Kachin State where there was a series of bombs blasts earlier this month, injuring one engineer.
Three other bombs on April 15 hit a water festival in Yangon, in the city's worst attack in five years. The death toll from that attack has now risen to 10 people, with at least 170 people wounded.
Myanmar authorities have arrested some suspects in their search for the perpetrators of those blasts, officials said, but they did not give any further detail as the investigation is still underway.
Myanmar has been hit by several bomb blasts in recent years which the junta has blamed on armed exile groups or ethnic rebels.
The latest attacks come as the country prepares for elections planned for this year, which critics have dismissed as a sham due to the effective barring of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi because she is a serving prisoner.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, partly justifying its grip on power by the need to fend off ethnic rebellions that have plagued remote border areas for decades.
Armed minorities in Karen and Shan states continue to fight the government along the country's eastern border, alleging they are subject to neglect and mistreatment.
******************************************************
Epoch Times - The Saffron Revolution Caught on Film: 'Burma VJ' Debuts on HBO
A chat with ‘Burma VJ’ filmmaker Anders Østengaard
By Masha Savitz
Epoch Times Staff Created: Apr 26, 2010 Last Updated: Apr 26, 2010
Risking their lives to expose the truth, the documentary Burma VJ captures, firsthand, the deadly serious matter of censorship in the repressive Burmese military regime. This Oscar-nominated film debuts April 20 on HBO.
In what has become known as the Saffron Revolution, thousands of peaceful Buddhist monks took to the streets of Rangoon to protest the brutal military rule of the State Peace and Development Council, in September 2007.
As foreign news crews were banned from entering the country, and the Internet was shut down, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a small and courageous network of underground video reporters, recorded the remarkable events as they escalated. The often shaky and raw footage was then snuck out of Burma into Oslo, Norway, where it was disseminated to major news stations across the globe.
On a phone interview from Copenhagen, I spoke with Anders Østengaard, the innovative filmmaker who transformed the raw footage from camcorders and cellular phones into the award-winning documentary. He explained how he got involved in the project and the artistic challenges that he faced in bringing the story forward.
Long before the uprising, Østengaard tells me that he saw a real need for a documentary to be made about Burma, specifically because of the lack of media coverage allowed from within the country.
It was the producer, Lise Lense Moller, who initiated the project—“I was interested but not committed,” said the Danish filmmaker with a deep and resonant voice. “I came to this project first as a filmmaker and later as an activist.”
“It was quite modest at the beginning,” Østengaard acknowledges of the initial concept. Given the perilous situation in Burma, the project was seemingly impossible—the idea was nearly aborted.
“In that process we discovered that the DVB was in Oslo—we got in touch with them in 2007.”
As things became tense in Burma, however, Østengaard had to break communication. “I kept quite a distance from them during the uprising—they were busy and it was too dangerous.”
It was a number of months after the uprising, in 2008, that the filmmaking team met up with the DVB. “We met up with them afterwards to piece the story together. “We had already had the contact, connection, and mutual trust,” said Østengaard.
“It was incredible,” explains Østengaard, of suddenly being in the midst of groundbreaking footage of the Saffron Revolution.
The first challenge of acquiring rare footage was accomplished. Now it was up to Østengaard to create a cohesive and compelling film.
Because of the sensitive nature of the documentary, however, people’s anonymity had to be preserved and protected. Østengaard had to therefore invent a new way of telling the story—a creative solution to the very real political limitations with potentially severe consequences.
The film therefore employs reenactments, which were shot in Thailand, focusing on cell phone conversations.
The next creative challenge facing Østengaard was “how to give a second life to the material, because it had all been on the news.”
He knew he had to have a different approach—one that gave the background story to this footage. The solution, Østengaard said, evolved organically. Because he had been involved in the personal stories of the reporters, he “combined the large story of the uprising with the story of the reporters.”
“I am very interested in first person story telling, how they look at the world,” Østengaard explains, which was enhanced with telling the story of video reporters, “they are looking at it through a camera—very physically looking at it.”
Østengaard concluded our conversation offering a philosophical perspective and overview, “It’s existential,” he said, “recording to feel alive.”
At present, the DVB is slowly being rebuilt, as new reporters are being recruited and trained in camera and safety.
While the regime brutally cracked down on the Buddhist monks with imprisonment and torture, the struggle for freedom and democracy continues.
Since 2007, hundreds of monks have fled Burma, seeking asylum in the United States, continuing to raise awareness about the non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.
A chat with ‘Burma VJ’ filmmaker Anders Østengaard
By Masha Savitz
Epoch Times Staff Created: Apr 26, 2010 Last Updated: Apr 26, 2010
Risking their lives to expose the truth, the documentary Burma VJ captures, firsthand, the deadly serious matter of censorship in the repressive Burmese military regime. This Oscar-nominated film debuts April 20 on HBO.
In what has become known as the Saffron Revolution, thousands of peaceful Buddhist monks took to the streets of Rangoon to protest the brutal military rule of the State Peace and Development Council, in September 2007.
As foreign news crews were banned from entering the country, and the Internet was shut down, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a small and courageous network of underground video reporters, recorded the remarkable events as they escalated. The often shaky and raw footage was then snuck out of Burma into Oslo, Norway, where it was disseminated to major news stations across the globe.
On a phone interview from Copenhagen, I spoke with Anders Østengaard, the innovative filmmaker who transformed the raw footage from camcorders and cellular phones into the award-winning documentary. He explained how he got involved in the project and the artistic challenges that he faced in bringing the story forward.
Long before the uprising, Østengaard tells me that he saw a real need for a documentary to be made about Burma, specifically because of the lack of media coverage allowed from within the country.
It was the producer, Lise Lense Moller, who initiated the project—“I was interested but not committed,” said the Danish filmmaker with a deep and resonant voice. “I came to this project first as a filmmaker and later as an activist.”
“It was quite modest at the beginning,” Østengaard acknowledges of the initial concept. Given the perilous situation in Burma, the project was seemingly impossible—the idea was nearly aborted.
“In that process we discovered that the DVB was in Oslo—we got in touch with them in 2007.”
As things became tense in Burma, however, Østengaard had to break communication. “I kept quite a distance from them during the uprising—they were busy and it was too dangerous.”
It was a number of months after the uprising, in 2008, that the filmmaking team met up with the DVB. “We met up with them afterwards to piece the story together. “We had already had the contact, connection, and mutual trust,” said Østengaard.
“It was incredible,” explains Østengaard, of suddenly being in the midst of groundbreaking footage of the Saffron Revolution.
The first challenge of acquiring rare footage was accomplished. Now it was up to Østengaard to create a cohesive and compelling film.
Because of the sensitive nature of the documentary, however, people’s anonymity had to be preserved and protected. Østengaard had to therefore invent a new way of telling the story—a creative solution to the very real political limitations with potentially severe consequences.
The film therefore employs reenactments, which were shot in Thailand, focusing on cell phone conversations.
The next creative challenge facing Østengaard was “how to give a second life to the material, because it had all been on the news.”
He knew he had to have a different approach—one that gave the background story to this footage. The solution, Østengaard said, evolved organically. Because he had been involved in the personal stories of the reporters, he “combined the large story of the uprising with the story of the reporters.”
“I am very interested in first person story telling, how they look at the world,” Østengaard explains, which was enhanced with telling the story of video reporters, “they are looking at it through a camera—very physically looking at it.”
Østengaard concluded our conversation offering a philosophical perspective and overview, “It’s existential,” he said, “recording to feel alive.”
At present, the DVB is slowly being rebuilt, as new reporters are being recruited and trained in camera and safety.
While the regime brutally cracked down on the Buddhist monks with imprisonment and torture, the struggle for freedom and democracy continues.
Since 2007, hundreds of monks have fled Burma, seeking asylum in the United States, continuing to raise awareness about the non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.
******************************************************
VOA News - Activists Hold Little Hope for 2010 Elections in Burma
Laurel Bowman 26 April 2010
Burma is now preparing for elections at the state, regional and national level. But the country's much-criticized election laws prompted the main opposition party to opt out, leaving many activists disheartened and disgruntled.
This is how Burmese, pro-democracy advocates living in India reacted to new election rules in Burma. The rules essentially bar Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders from running.
"Because General Than Shwe led by military government they are cheating the people," said one protester.
Burma's ruling military junta says it will hold free and fair elections this year for the first time in two decades. Priscilla Clapp, the former mission chief at the U.S. Embassy in Burma, says that while elections are a step in the right direction, Burma's constitution finalized in 2008 ensures strong control by the military.
"Many senior military leaders have resigned and they are already out campaigning," said Priscilla Clapp.
Burma's constitution bars political prisoners from running for office. The iconic Aung San Suu Kyi heads the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy or NLD, but she has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years. Her party has opted out.
"How can the NLD in good conscience register themselves as a political party and participate in these elections when all of their leaders who have suffered so heavily for their engagement would be precluded from engaging with this new government," said Jared Genser.
Washington attorney Jared Genser is Aung San Suu Kyi's international counsel. He has a lot to say about the junta's upcoming elections, none of it good.
"I think they learned their lesson from 1990 when they actually allowed for a free and fair election and lost in a landslide and they are not going to allow that sort of thing to happen again," he said.
Genser is the president of Freedom Now, a group in Washington that works for the release of political prisoners worldwide. He recently helped to secure freedom for Burmese-born American Kyaw Zaw Lwin, also known as Nyi Nyi Aung. The pro-democracy activist was arrested in September in Rangoon where he traveled to visit his sick mother.
"I am seeing people dying in front of me without any water or any treatments," said Nyi Nyi Aung.
Nyi Nyi Aung says most Burmese feel the junta's elections are a sham, reminiscent of the elections in 1990, when the military refused to relinquish power despite losses at the polls. He says democracy's best hope is constant, steady pressure from the international community.
"In my case when the U.S. government requests to the regime for my release and right now I am sitting in front of Congress and I am in the United States and I am free," he said.
Nyi Nyi Aung and other Burmese pro-democracy advocates say the United States has less leverage on Burma, following years of economic sanctions. Last year, the Obama administration announced a new policy toward Burma of pragmatic engagement. Analysts say the junta still responds to international criticism, but that China, India and Burma's other allies within the Association of South East Asian Nations should be at the table for any dialogue on national reconciliation.
Laurel Bowman 26 April 2010
Burma is now preparing for elections at the state, regional and national level. But the country's much-criticized election laws prompted the main opposition party to opt out, leaving many activists disheartened and disgruntled.
This is how Burmese, pro-democracy advocates living in India reacted to new election rules in Burma. The rules essentially bar Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders from running.
"Because General Than Shwe led by military government they are cheating the people," said one protester.
Burma's ruling military junta says it will hold free and fair elections this year for the first time in two decades. Priscilla Clapp, the former mission chief at the U.S. Embassy in Burma, says that while elections are a step in the right direction, Burma's constitution finalized in 2008 ensures strong control by the military.
"Many senior military leaders have resigned and they are already out campaigning," said Priscilla Clapp.
Burma's constitution bars political prisoners from running for office. The iconic Aung San Suu Kyi heads the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy or NLD, but she has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years. Her party has opted out.
"How can the NLD in good conscience register themselves as a political party and participate in these elections when all of their leaders who have suffered so heavily for their engagement would be precluded from engaging with this new government," said Jared Genser.
Washington attorney Jared Genser is Aung San Suu Kyi's international counsel. He has a lot to say about the junta's upcoming elections, none of it good.
"I think they learned their lesson from 1990 when they actually allowed for a free and fair election and lost in a landslide and they are not going to allow that sort of thing to happen again," he said.
Genser is the president of Freedom Now, a group in Washington that works for the release of political prisoners worldwide. He recently helped to secure freedom for Burmese-born American Kyaw Zaw Lwin, also known as Nyi Nyi Aung. The pro-democracy activist was arrested in September in Rangoon where he traveled to visit his sick mother.
"I am seeing people dying in front of me without any water or any treatments," said Nyi Nyi Aung.
Nyi Nyi Aung says most Burmese feel the junta's elections are a sham, reminiscent of the elections in 1990, when the military refused to relinquish power despite losses at the polls. He says democracy's best hope is constant, steady pressure from the international community.
"In my case when the U.S. government requests to the regime for my release and right now I am sitting in front of Congress and I am in the United States and I am free," he said.
Nyi Nyi Aung and other Burmese pro-democracy advocates say the United States has less leverage on Burma, following years of economic sanctions. Last year, the Obama administration announced a new policy toward Burma of pragmatic engagement. Analysts say the junta still responds to international criticism, but that China, India and Burma's other allies within the Association of South East Asian Nations should be at the table for any dialogue on national reconciliation.
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The Nation - Padaeng Industry gearing up for Laos, Burma
Published on April 28, 2010
Zinc miner Padaeng Industry is witnessing progress on its new concessions in Laos and Burma while preparing for the orderly shutdown of its Mae Sot mine in 2016, when it will reach the end of its commercial viability.
Managing director Andre van der Heyden on Monday said the Lao concession would be a major project for the company over the next few years.
"Already the company has |started exploration work in the northern part of Vientiane province. Results from the initial drilling suggested high potential of deposits of one million tonnes of zinc ore," he said.
The company has acquired the operating rights to a mine located in Burma near Mae Sot district and operations are expected to commence this year, van der Heyden told the annual shareholders' meeting.
Land remediation work on the Mae Sot site began in 2003, with more than 13 million shoots of vetiver grass planted in areas where mining activities had ceased.
This makes the Mae Sot mine one of the largest growers of vetiver grass in the Kingdom. Vetiver grass, which helps prevent soil erosion and enhances soil improvement for agricultural use, is first used as a pilot plant to rehabilitate the soil before growing perennial plants, thereby reviving a once-mined area.
The company posted a consolidated first-quarter net profit of Bt296 million, up from Bt265 million in the same period last year. Shareholders approved a dividend of 92 satang a share.
Published on April 28, 2010
Zinc miner Padaeng Industry is witnessing progress on its new concessions in Laos and Burma while preparing for the orderly shutdown of its Mae Sot mine in 2016, when it will reach the end of its commercial viability.
Managing director Andre van der Heyden on Monday said the Lao concession would be a major project for the company over the next few years.
"Already the company has |started exploration work in the northern part of Vientiane province. Results from the initial drilling suggested high potential of deposits of one million tonnes of zinc ore," he said.
The company has acquired the operating rights to a mine located in Burma near Mae Sot district and operations are expected to commence this year, van der Heyden told the annual shareholders' meeting.
Land remediation work on the Mae Sot site began in 2003, with more than 13 million shoots of vetiver grass planted in areas where mining activities had ceased.
This makes the Mae Sot mine one of the largest growers of vetiver grass in the Kingdom. Vetiver grass, which helps prevent soil erosion and enhances soil improvement for agricultural use, is first used as a pilot plant to rehabilitate the soil before growing perennial plants, thereby reviving a once-mined area.
The company posted a consolidated first-quarter net profit of Bt296 million, up from Bt265 million in the same period last year. Shareholders approved a dividend of 92 satang a share.
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Bangkok Post - Burma niche beckons developers
Published: 26/04/2010 at 10:40 AM
Newspaper section: Business
The property market in Burma has high growth potential, especially after general elections are held and with the support of new economic networks in the region, according to the Bangkok-based developer Fragrant Property.
James Duan, CEO of Fragrant Group, a developer of The Prime 11 and Circle condominiums in Bangkok, acknowledged that the market in Burma was not typical of the region. He said it was not driven by income growth among a large group of people but by high-income investors making up only around 2% of total population.
Also helping the market, he said, was the limitation of investment choices in Burma, mainly gold and land.
However, Mr Duan said regional free trade would become a factor as property is a fundamental industry for economic development, especially in the service sector, led by tourism.
"Co-operation in Asean is expected to generate a higher number of new investors to enter the property sector in Burma. Thus residential property for medium and low-end consumers should generate higher demand," he said. "This is also helped by the lack of supply. . . . It's a good opportunity for foreign developers including Thais to start research there for business expansion."
Currently, foreigners are not allowed to own land in Burma but can join with local and private investors or the government in build-operate-transfer agreements. These allow private investors to raise funds and handle design, construction and operations before transferring the property to the government.
Total foreign shareholdings must be at least 35% of a venture's total value while the minimum investment is US$500,000 for the industrial sector and $300,000 in the service sector.
Mr Duan also acknowledged that investors in Burma should be concerned about the political factor. In the past, he said, foreign investors faced a relatively low risk in Burma's real estate market when compared to other sectors controlled by the military regime.
Meanwhile, his company is continuing its promotion of Thailand as well.
"Fragrant will continue to stage roadshows under the concept, 'Bangkok Your Second Home' in various countries in Asean and the Asian region to draw foreign investors to the Kingdom," he said.
The company held its first roadshow in Burma at the end of last year and received a great deal of attention. "We are considering another roadshow in the country and the plan is expected to be finalised soon."
Published: 26/04/2010 at 10:40 AM
Newspaper section: Business
The property market in Burma has high growth potential, especially after general elections are held and with the support of new economic networks in the region, according to the Bangkok-based developer Fragrant Property.
James Duan, CEO of Fragrant Group, a developer of The Prime 11 and Circle condominiums in Bangkok, acknowledged that the market in Burma was not typical of the region. He said it was not driven by income growth among a large group of people but by high-income investors making up only around 2% of total population.
Also helping the market, he said, was the limitation of investment choices in Burma, mainly gold and land.
However, Mr Duan said regional free trade would become a factor as property is a fundamental industry for economic development, especially in the service sector, led by tourism.
"Co-operation in Asean is expected to generate a higher number of new investors to enter the property sector in Burma. Thus residential property for medium and low-end consumers should generate higher demand," he said. "This is also helped by the lack of supply. . . . It's a good opportunity for foreign developers including Thais to start research there for business expansion."
Currently, foreigners are not allowed to own land in Burma but can join with local and private investors or the government in build-operate-transfer agreements. These allow private investors to raise funds and handle design, construction and operations before transferring the property to the government.
Total foreign shareholdings must be at least 35% of a venture's total value while the minimum investment is US$500,000 for the industrial sector and $300,000 in the service sector.
Mr Duan also acknowledged that investors in Burma should be concerned about the political factor. In the past, he said, foreign investors faced a relatively low risk in Burma's real estate market when compared to other sectors controlled by the military regime.
Meanwhile, his company is continuing its promotion of Thailand as well.
"Fragrant will continue to stage roadshows under the concept, 'Bangkok Your Second Home' in various countries in Asean and the Asian region to draw foreign investors to the Kingdom," he said.
The company held its first roadshow in Burma at the end of last year and received a great deal of attention. "We are considering another roadshow in the country and the plan is expected to be finalised soon."
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DVB News - Singapore mentors Burma in sham elections
By SEELAN PALAY
Published: 27 April 2010
As preparations for the sham elections in Burma get into full swing, it is not difficult to notice similarities in electoral practices between the Burmese generals in uniform and Singapore’s leaders in civilian clothes.
The Burmese regime is bending over backwards to stage the fraudulent elections while refusing to respect the results of the country’s polls in 1990 that led to the landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Why reinvent the wheel, when what happened two decades ago remains unfulfilled? The same military that massacred thousands of innocent civilians, including Buddhist monks, is now pretending that everything is hunky-dory.
It is an undeniable fact that the military regime holds close economic ties to Singapore – the top brass of the Burmese army are known to have parked their ill-gotten millions in Singapore’s banks, while they and their family members own properties in upmarket areas and their children go to top schools and drive flashy cars, flaunting their wealth to the envy of ordinary Singaporeans.
Burmese drug lords who are banned from entering the US freely come and go in Singapore and some even have offices in the posh commercial district along Shenton Way. It is no wonder that Singapore is the third largest investor in Burma, helping to prop up the pariah regime.
Singapore has even named a hybrid Orchid, its national flower, after the Burmese prime minister, General Thein Sein. Orchids in the same Singapore Botanical Gardens were previously named after Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela.
The similarities between Burma and Singapore do not stop there. The election process in Singapore is as opaque as it is in Naypyidaw, the new capital of the Burmese regime. Although Singapore claims to hold periodical elections to legitimise the rule of the People’s Action Party (PAP), the exercise itself is highly questionable.
To start with, there is no independent elections commission. Only a department that comes under the Prime Minister’s Office that decides on last-minute boundary delineation, exorbitant deposits for candidates (presently $US9,900 but expected to be raised to $US11,000 in the next election), and other regular gerrymandering practices, including what is known as the Group Representation Constituencies (GRC).
This so-called electoral system has led to almost half of the seats in parliament being uncontested on Nomination Day. Presently, Singapore’s ‘parliament’ has 84 MPs, of which 82 are from Lee Kuan Yew’s PAP. And that is “democratic elections” in Singapore for you!
The paradox of Singapore’s elections is that the electorate, some of whom are nearing their 50s, have never voted in their entire lives. This so-called anomaly is glaring in Singapore, where voting is compulsory under the Parliamentary Elections Act.
With all these well-entrenched undemocratic practices, it is not surprising to even a distant observer to understand how the ruling PAP has been in power since 1959.
What is worse is the irrefutable reality in Singapore that one man, by the name of Lee Kuan Yew, has been in power for the last 51 years. The octogenarian Lee, who is now 87 years old, calls himself Minister Mentor in the cabinet headed by his prime minster son, Lee Hsien Loong.
Compare this to the reality in Burma where the army generals have held sway since the 1962 coup, ousting the democratically elected government of U Nu. Even against this, Lee Kuan Yew’s grip on power extends longer by three years, but he continues to claim that elections in his republic are based on the Westminster model of democracy.
Anyone who believes in democratic values could easily see that it is next to impossible to continue to have a one-party dominated parliament in the name of freedom and democracy. Obviously the uniformed generals are under tutelage by the authoritarian regime in Singapore, clad in civilian clothes.
While the Burmese generals continue to not recognise the results of the 1990 elections, preparations are in full swing to hold yet another elections based on its 2008 constitution, aimed at hoodwinking the people. Singapore too is notorious for amending its constitution just before every general election to give a legal facade to what is clearly an illegitimate exercise.
The Burmese generals also appear to have been keen and obedient students to their teacher, Singapore. Burmese intelligence agents are known to visit on a routine basis to study the latest electronic eavesdropping gadgets for their surveillance of Burmese political dissidents, including the NLD leaders.
The recent announcement by NLD to boycott the army-orchestrated sham elections is the right move. How can the elections be legitimate when NLD’s leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest and barred from taking part? Singapore too, has a history of barring genuine opposition leaders who were daring enough to challenge, through constitutional means, the regime of Lee Kuan Yew.
Victims of Lee’s political vendetta include prominent figures such as the late J B Jeyaretnam, Singapore’s former solicitor-general Mr Francis Seow (now in exile in the US), Singapore’s leading corporate lawyer Mr Tang Liang Hong (now in exile in Australia), and Dr Chee Soon Juan, who remains bankrupted and unable to stand for elections.
These are well-known democrats who stood up against Lee Kuan Yew, who had openly declared in 2003 that: “If we had considered them serious political figures, we would not have kept them politically alive for so long. We could have bankrupted them earlier.” Is this not what the generals in Burma are doing while loudly proclaiming to the world that there will be “free and fair” elections in the country before the end of the year?
While Singapore leaders are shedding crocodile tears and sermonizing the Burmese generals on the need for free and fair elections, is it not appropriate for them to look at their own backyard?
When Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong met the Burmese generals, including Than Shwe, last year, he urged them not to allow the ongoing trial of Suu Kyi to affect the national reconciliation process and to make sure that the proposed elections are free and fair.
It is better for Goh to take a hard look at himself in the mirror: he will then be able to see the ugly features that include a well-documented law providing for indefinite detention without trial, under which detainees are subject to regular physical and mental torture. It is also common in Singapore to prosecute opposition politicians for speaking in public and distributing flyers; laws that are no different from the Burmese junta.
Goh Chok Tong’s “advice” is double-speak at best. What right has he got to advise the generals when the same despicable acts are committed at every election in Singapore? Are elections in Singapore free and fair in the first place? Is the media in Singapore free and pluralistic for the voters to be informed before they go to the polls to choose their representatives to parliament?
Burma’s media laws are the strictest in the world, and so are Singapore’s, the most notorious being the Newspapers and Printing Presses Act that gives sweeping powers, including the appointment of editors to the 14 daily newspapers that are all under the control of the PAP government. Burma is ranked 171 out of 175 countries in the recent Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index. Singapore is also in the miserable position of 133, several ranks below that of even Angola and Congo.
The Singapore Press Holdings, whose chairman was a former deputy prime minister, runs all the newspapers of which its flagship daily is the Straits Times. It’s a known fact that intelligence operatives masquerade as reporters and journalists in Singapore’s media scene. The Straits Times has its equivalent in Burma, the New Light of Myanmar, which is nothing but a mouthpiece of the military regime.
Similarities between the autocratic rule in Singapore and the equally notorious regime in Burma are endless. Learning from Singapore on how to perpetuate one-party rule through sham elections is a natural progression for Burma under the bloodthirsty generals.
Seelan Palay is an artist and activist from Singapore. He works with Free Burma Campaign Singapore and blogs here.
By SEELAN PALAY
Published: 27 April 2010
As preparations for the sham elections in Burma get into full swing, it is not difficult to notice similarities in electoral practices between the Burmese generals in uniform and Singapore’s leaders in civilian clothes.
The Burmese regime is bending over backwards to stage the fraudulent elections while refusing to respect the results of the country’s polls in 1990 that led to the landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Why reinvent the wheel, when what happened two decades ago remains unfulfilled? The same military that massacred thousands of innocent civilians, including Buddhist monks, is now pretending that everything is hunky-dory.
It is an undeniable fact that the military regime holds close economic ties to Singapore – the top brass of the Burmese army are known to have parked their ill-gotten millions in Singapore’s banks, while they and their family members own properties in upmarket areas and their children go to top schools and drive flashy cars, flaunting their wealth to the envy of ordinary Singaporeans.
Burmese drug lords who are banned from entering the US freely come and go in Singapore and some even have offices in the posh commercial district along Shenton Way. It is no wonder that Singapore is the third largest investor in Burma, helping to prop up the pariah regime.
Singapore has even named a hybrid Orchid, its national flower, after the Burmese prime minister, General Thein Sein. Orchids in the same Singapore Botanical Gardens were previously named after Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela.
The similarities between Burma and Singapore do not stop there. The election process in Singapore is as opaque as it is in Naypyidaw, the new capital of the Burmese regime. Although Singapore claims to hold periodical elections to legitimise the rule of the People’s Action Party (PAP), the exercise itself is highly questionable.
To start with, there is no independent elections commission. Only a department that comes under the Prime Minister’s Office that decides on last-minute boundary delineation, exorbitant deposits for candidates (presently $US9,900 but expected to be raised to $US11,000 in the next election), and other regular gerrymandering practices, including what is known as the Group Representation Constituencies (GRC).
This so-called electoral system has led to almost half of the seats in parliament being uncontested on Nomination Day. Presently, Singapore’s ‘parliament’ has 84 MPs, of which 82 are from Lee Kuan Yew’s PAP. And that is “democratic elections” in Singapore for you!
The paradox of Singapore’s elections is that the electorate, some of whom are nearing their 50s, have never voted in their entire lives. This so-called anomaly is glaring in Singapore, where voting is compulsory under the Parliamentary Elections Act.
With all these well-entrenched undemocratic practices, it is not surprising to even a distant observer to understand how the ruling PAP has been in power since 1959.
What is worse is the irrefutable reality in Singapore that one man, by the name of Lee Kuan Yew, has been in power for the last 51 years. The octogenarian Lee, who is now 87 years old, calls himself Minister Mentor in the cabinet headed by his prime minster son, Lee Hsien Loong.
Compare this to the reality in Burma where the army generals have held sway since the 1962 coup, ousting the democratically elected government of U Nu. Even against this, Lee Kuan Yew’s grip on power extends longer by three years, but he continues to claim that elections in his republic are based on the Westminster model of democracy.
Anyone who believes in democratic values could easily see that it is next to impossible to continue to have a one-party dominated parliament in the name of freedom and democracy. Obviously the uniformed generals are under tutelage by the authoritarian regime in Singapore, clad in civilian clothes.
While the Burmese generals continue to not recognise the results of the 1990 elections, preparations are in full swing to hold yet another elections based on its 2008 constitution, aimed at hoodwinking the people. Singapore too is notorious for amending its constitution just before every general election to give a legal facade to what is clearly an illegitimate exercise.
The Burmese generals also appear to have been keen and obedient students to their teacher, Singapore. Burmese intelligence agents are known to visit on a routine basis to study the latest electronic eavesdropping gadgets for their surveillance of Burmese political dissidents, including the NLD leaders.
The recent announcement by NLD to boycott the army-orchestrated sham elections is the right move. How can the elections be legitimate when NLD’s leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest and barred from taking part? Singapore too, has a history of barring genuine opposition leaders who were daring enough to challenge, through constitutional means, the regime of Lee Kuan Yew.
Victims of Lee’s political vendetta include prominent figures such as the late J B Jeyaretnam, Singapore’s former solicitor-general Mr Francis Seow (now in exile in the US), Singapore’s leading corporate lawyer Mr Tang Liang Hong (now in exile in Australia), and Dr Chee Soon Juan, who remains bankrupted and unable to stand for elections.
These are well-known democrats who stood up against Lee Kuan Yew, who had openly declared in 2003 that: “If we had considered them serious political figures, we would not have kept them politically alive for so long. We could have bankrupted them earlier.” Is this not what the generals in Burma are doing while loudly proclaiming to the world that there will be “free and fair” elections in the country before the end of the year?
While Singapore leaders are shedding crocodile tears and sermonizing the Burmese generals on the need for free and fair elections, is it not appropriate for them to look at their own backyard?
When Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong met the Burmese generals, including Than Shwe, last year, he urged them not to allow the ongoing trial of Suu Kyi to affect the national reconciliation process and to make sure that the proposed elections are free and fair.
It is better for Goh to take a hard look at himself in the mirror: he will then be able to see the ugly features that include a well-documented law providing for indefinite detention without trial, under which detainees are subject to regular physical and mental torture. It is also common in Singapore to prosecute opposition politicians for speaking in public and distributing flyers; laws that are no different from the Burmese junta.
Goh Chok Tong’s “advice” is double-speak at best. What right has he got to advise the generals when the same despicable acts are committed at every election in Singapore? Are elections in Singapore free and fair in the first place? Is the media in Singapore free and pluralistic for the voters to be informed before they go to the polls to choose their representatives to parliament?
Burma’s media laws are the strictest in the world, and so are Singapore’s, the most notorious being the Newspapers and Printing Presses Act that gives sweeping powers, including the appointment of editors to the 14 daily newspapers that are all under the control of the PAP government. Burma is ranked 171 out of 175 countries in the recent Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index. Singapore is also in the miserable position of 133, several ranks below that of even Angola and Congo.
The Singapore Press Holdings, whose chairman was a former deputy prime minister, runs all the newspapers of which its flagship daily is the Straits Times. It’s a known fact that intelligence operatives masquerade as reporters and journalists in Singapore’s media scene. The Straits Times has its equivalent in Burma, the New Light of Myanmar, which is nothing but a mouthpiece of the military regime.
Similarities between the autocratic rule in Singapore and the equally notorious regime in Burma are endless. Learning from Singapore on how to perpetuate one-party rule through sham elections is a natural progression for Burma under the bloodthirsty generals.
Seelan Palay is an artist and activist from Singapore. He works with Free Burma Campaign Singapore and blogs here.
******************************************************
DVB News - Ethnic alliance ‘to step up resistance’
By MAUNG TOO
Published: 27 April 2010
An alliance of eight armed ethnic groups in Burma known as the National Democratic Front (NDF) has said that it is preparing to defend itself if escalating tensions with the Burmese army result in civil war.
The comment comes as the Burmese government piles pressure on ethnic ceasefire groups to transform into Border Guard Forces (BGF). The country’s two main ceasefire groups, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), are resisting the demands, which could spark widespread fighting, while the New Mon State Party (NMSP) last week flatly rejected the proposal.
“NDF member groups engaged in the armed struggle will step up resistance against the [government’s] political pressure in their territories,” said NDF general secretary Mai Phone Kyaw.
The eight-member group includes the NMSP, as well as the Karen National Union (KNU), whose 60-year conflict with the Burmese government is one of the world’s longest-running.
“We will cooperate with groups in upper, central and lower Burma if ceasefire agreements [with the government] are broken in one of our areas,” said Mai Phone Kyaw. “The flames of the civil war in Burma will grow larger if [the ethnic groups] continue to be pressured to transform when their basic rights are not yet granted.”
The junta has threatened to use force against groups that refuse the transformation, a move it hopes will consolidate its support base prior to elections this year. Many of the ceasefire agreements were signed decades ago and are looking increasingly tenuous.
Mai Phone Kyaw said that if force is used, “our armed groups will launch attacks systemically across the country”.
The NSMP’s rejection has sparked an exodus of Mon refugees to a camp along the Thai-Burma border, who have fled as the Burmese army increases its presence close to NMSP territory in central Burma.
By MAUNG TOO
Published: 27 April 2010
An alliance of eight armed ethnic groups in Burma known as the National Democratic Front (NDF) has said that it is preparing to defend itself if escalating tensions with the Burmese army result in civil war.
The comment comes as the Burmese government piles pressure on ethnic ceasefire groups to transform into Border Guard Forces (BGF). The country’s two main ceasefire groups, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), are resisting the demands, which could spark widespread fighting, while the New Mon State Party (NMSP) last week flatly rejected the proposal.
“NDF member groups engaged in the armed struggle will step up resistance against the [government’s] political pressure in their territories,” said NDF general secretary Mai Phone Kyaw.
The eight-member group includes the NMSP, as well as the Karen National Union (KNU), whose 60-year conflict with the Burmese government is one of the world’s longest-running.
“We will cooperate with groups in upper, central and lower Burma if ceasefire agreements [with the government] are broken in one of our areas,” said Mai Phone Kyaw. “The flames of the civil war in Burma will grow larger if [the ethnic groups] continue to be pressured to transform when their basic rights are not yet granted.”
The junta has threatened to use force against groups that refuse the transformation, a move it hopes will consolidate its support base prior to elections this year. Many of the ceasefire agreements were signed decades ago and are looking increasingly tenuous.
Mai Phone Kyaw said that if force is used, “our armed groups will launch attacks systemically across the country”.
The NSMP’s rejection has sparked an exodus of Mon refugees to a camp along the Thai-Burma border, who have fled as the Burmese army increases its presence close to NMSP territory in central Burma.
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DVB News - Mass call for Burma gas transparency
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 27 April 2010
A grouping of NGOs led by the US-based EarthRights International (ERI) today called on oil giants Total and Chevron to publish the details of contracts they hold with the Burmese junta.
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand Exploration and Production (PTTEP) was also targeted in the initiative, which has received more than 160 signatories. These include labour unions, investment firms, scholars and world leaders, including the former Irish president Mary Robinson and Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.
“The time for revenue transparency is now,” the head of ERI’s Burma program, Mathew Smith, told a press conference today in Bangkok.
The three companies were involved with the junta’s Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in building the Yadana gas pipeline that carries natural gas to Thailand, via the Three Gorges Pass, to power Bangkok. The companies initially signed deals with MOGE in 1992.
“They can practice transparency but they’re not,” Smith said of the companies who have refused to disclose revenues to shareholders.
ERI obtained contracts that were submitted as evidence in litigation taken by human rights activists against the companies. Crucially, however, there is nothing in the contracts that would necessitate the companies keeping such details secret.
The panel, made up of Smith and Naing Htoo, both of ERI, and Wong Aung from the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) advocacy group, noted that the transparency was also good for investors: “Sunshine is the best antiseptic for the extractive industries,” claimed Smith.
A statement from anti-corruption group Transparency International, also a signatory, noted that revenue transparency would “help the companies and their home states avoid the appearance of complicity in mismanagement of the gas revenue generated for the Burmese authorities, which could also raise shareholder value”.
ERI state that “shining a light on this is critical for Burma’s future development, and for the responsible management of the country’s vast resource wealth”. It notes that Burma has the highest poverty levels and lowest social spending in the region.
The group estimates that Total made around $US5 billion worth of profits from when the pipeline went ‘online’ in 2000 and 2008, and they paid the junta $US254 million in 2008 alone.
Naing Htoo became involved in the Yadana campaign after he had to flee his native Karen state following Burmese army operations in the path of the Yadana pipeline. The panel and numerous groups allege that Burmese troops were responsible for rape, pillage and wanton human rights abuses. These were the subject of trials brought against the companies in the United States.
He added that “the people of Burma have a right to know the financial details surrounding the country’s natural resources, including payments made by foreign oil companies”, adding that “these resources could have improved the lives of the people so much”.
The junta spends around $US1.25 per person per year on health and education; more than three times less than they receive from Total alone in a single year.
Such concerns regarding transparency, accountability, corporate practice and human rights are only likely to intensify as the Shwe gas pipeline to China comes closer to completion, expected in 2014.
Smith believes however that transparency from the companies involved with the Yadana project can help to encourage companies such as Daewoo from Korea, China National Petroleum corporation (CNPC) and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, all of which have deals with the junta, to be more transparent in their respective operations.
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 27 April 2010
A grouping of NGOs led by the US-based EarthRights International (ERI) today called on oil giants Total and Chevron to publish the details of contracts they hold with the Burmese junta.
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand Exploration and Production (PTTEP) was also targeted in the initiative, which has received more than 160 signatories. These include labour unions, investment firms, scholars and world leaders, including the former Irish president Mary Robinson and Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.
“The time for revenue transparency is now,” the head of ERI’s Burma program, Mathew Smith, told a press conference today in Bangkok.
The three companies were involved with the junta’s Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in building the Yadana gas pipeline that carries natural gas to Thailand, via the Three Gorges Pass, to power Bangkok. The companies initially signed deals with MOGE in 1992.
“They can practice transparency but they’re not,” Smith said of the companies who have refused to disclose revenues to shareholders.
ERI obtained contracts that were submitted as evidence in litigation taken by human rights activists against the companies. Crucially, however, there is nothing in the contracts that would necessitate the companies keeping such details secret.
The panel, made up of Smith and Naing Htoo, both of ERI, and Wong Aung from the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) advocacy group, noted that the transparency was also good for investors: “Sunshine is the best antiseptic for the extractive industries,” claimed Smith.
A statement from anti-corruption group Transparency International, also a signatory, noted that revenue transparency would “help the companies and their home states avoid the appearance of complicity in mismanagement of the gas revenue generated for the Burmese authorities, which could also raise shareholder value”.
ERI state that “shining a light on this is critical for Burma’s future development, and for the responsible management of the country’s vast resource wealth”. It notes that Burma has the highest poverty levels and lowest social spending in the region.
The group estimates that Total made around $US5 billion worth of profits from when the pipeline went ‘online’ in 2000 and 2008, and they paid the junta $US254 million in 2008 alone.
Naing Htoo became involved in the Yadana campaign after he had to flee his native Karen state following Burmese army operations in the path of the Yadana pipeline. The panel and numerous groups allege that Burmese troops were responsible for rape, pillage and wanton human rights abuses. These were the subject of trials brought against the companies in the United States.
He added that “the people of Burma have a right to know the financial details surrounding the country’s natural resources, including payments made by foreign oil companies”, adding that “these resources could have improved the lives of the people so much”.
The junta spends around $US1.25 per person per year on health and education; more than three times less than they receive from Total alone in a single year.
Such concerns regarding transparency, accountability, corporate practice and human rights are only likely to intensify as the Shwe gas pipeline to China comes closer to completion, expected in 2014.
Smith believes however that transparency from the companies involved with the Yadana project can help to encourage companies such as Daewoo from Korea, China National Petroleum corporation (CNPC) and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, all of which have deals with the junta, to be more transparent in their respective operations.
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Senator seeks Burmese perspective on US policy
Tuesday, 27 April 2010 18:46 Mungpi
Oklahoma City (Mizzima) – Burmese activists and community leaders in the United States have urged US Senator Richard Lugar to continue pushing for targeted sanctions on Burma’s military rulers, as they say the junta has failed to respond positively to the Obama administration’s new engagement policy, according to a senatorial aide.
Keith Luse, a senior Foreign Relations Committee assistant to Senator Lugar, told Mizzima that Burmese ethnic leaders at a meeting in the senator’s electorate of Indiana state on Sunday had expressed their view that the US should maintain targeted economic sanctions against the regime.
The meeting was held to obtain feedback from Burmese activists and community leaders on the new US-Burma policy, launched by Democrat US President Barack Obama last September, Mr Luse said.
Senator Lugar, a Republican, is the ranking opposition leader on the committee. Democrat Senator John Kerry is the panel’s chairman.
According to Luse, with the Burmese junta not responding positively to the Obama administration’s engagement efforts, the various Burmese ethnic leaders at the meeting said, “Senator Lugar should continue to support sanctions ‘[more targeted against the junta]. And, the senator and Congress should encourage the Obama administration to press the UNSC to act on Burma being referred to the International Criminal Court,” added Luse, who attended the meeting on behalf of Senator Lugar, referring to the United Nations Security Council.
After more than a decade of imposing financial sanctions and diplomatically isolating the Southeast Asian nation, the US last September announced a policy to seek direct engagement with the Burmese military rulers, while maintaining existing sanctions.
US and Burmese officials then held meetings that included a visit by the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Dr Kurt Campbell, the highest ranking US official to visit Burma in 14 years.
However, no significant progress was made and the Burmese junta has lately been busy with its election plans, which the US ranks below international standards.
“As you are aware, the Obama administration has embarked on a new Burma policy. Senator Lugar is interested in obtaining feedback from Burmese in Indiana about this new policy approach. Do they agree, or do they have other suggestions?” Luse told Mizzima about the meeting on Sunday.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, is home to about 1,500 Burmese, the largest contingent of Burmese dissidents in the United States. Many were active in student and labour unions and political parties such as the opposition National League for Democracy. They had fled their homeland to escape the oppressive military regime.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010 18:46 Mungpi
Oklahoma City (Mizzima) – Burmese activists and community leaders in the United States have urged US Senator Richard Lugar to continue pushing for targeted sanctions on Burma’s military rulers, as they say the junta has failed to respond positively to the Obama administration’s new engagement policy, according to a senatorial aide.
Keith Luse, a senior Foreign Relations Committee assistant to Senator Lugar, told Mizzima that Burmese ethnic leaders at a meeting in the senator’s electorate of Indiana state on Sunday had expressed their view that the US should maintain targeted economic sanctions against the regime.
The meeting was held to obtain feedback from Burmese activists and community leaders on the new US-Burma policy, launched by Democrat US President Barack Obama last September, Mr Luse said.
Senator Lugar, a Republican, is the ranking opposition leader on the committee. Democrat Senator John Kerry is the panel’s chairman.
According to Luse, with the Burmese junta not responding positively to the Obama administration’s engagement efforts, the various Burmese ethnic leaders at the meeting said, “Senator Lugar should continue to support sanctions ‘[more targeted against the junta]. And, the senator and Congress should encourage the Obama administration to press the UNSC to act on Burma being referred to the International Criminal Court,” added Luse, who attended the meeting on behalf of Senator Lugar, referring to the United Nations Security Council.
After more than a decade of imposing financial sanctions and diplomatically isolating the Southeast Asian nation, the US last September announced a policy to seek direct engagement with the Burmese military rulers, while maintaining existing sanctions.
US and Burmese officials then held meetings that included a visit by the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Dr Kurt Campbell, the highest ranking US official to visit Burma in 14 years.
However, no significant progress was made and the Burmese junta has lately been busy with its election plans, which the US ranks below international standards.
“As you are aware, the Obama administration has embarked on a new Burma policy. Senator Lugar is interested in obtaining feedback from Burmese in Indiana about this new policy approach. Do they agree, or do they have other suggestions?” Luse told Mizzima about the meeting on Sunday.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, is home to about 1,500 Burmese, the largest contingent of Burmese dissidents in the United States. Many were active in student and labour unions and political parties such as the opposition National League for Democracy. They had fled their homeland to escape the oppressive military regime.
******************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Thein Sein to Head Political Party?
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Burma's Prime Minster Gen Thein Sein and about 20 other ministers are widely reported to be in the process of quitting their military posts to take on leading roles in a new pro-junta political party that will contest the general election this year, sources in Naypyidaw said.
Quoting Burmese officials in the capital, the sources said that Thein Sein and other generals, including: Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Maj-Gen Htay Oo; Minister of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs Brig-Gen Thein Zaw; and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Brig-Gen Phone Swe, will head the new party.
Although the ministers will resign from the military, sources said, they will retain their current positions within the government.
Burma's state-run media has to date made no mention of Thein Sein's new role, but ran footage and reports of the general attending a religious ceremony along with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and other top brass in Naypyidaw on Monday.
However, officials in Naypyidaw do not deny the reports. “You should listen out for the news. Then you'll hear confirmation,” an official from the Government Office in Naypyidaw told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
An editor with a private journal in Rangoon said, “As far I know, the news is confirmed. Officials in Naypyidaw told me the government will announce Thein Sein's candidacy in the coming days.”
Speculation among Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) members and businessmen in Rangoon is rife that Thein Sein will lead a pro-military party, which could be a proxy of the USDA, sources said, adding that respected civilians among local communities were being sought as candidates for the pro-government party.
An official from the pro-junta civic group, the USDA, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that Thein Sein was being groomed by Than Shwe to run as the party leader.
“It sounds very possible,” said Ohn Lwin, a politician in Rangoon whose party, the National Political Alliance, has applied to contest the election. “Gen Thein Sein could lead a party and become the next president.”
Several official sources have recently tipped Thein Sein to play a leading role in a post-election government.
“Following the NLD [the main opposition National League for Democracy] decision not to register as a political party for the election, Snr-Gen Than Shwe has had a change of heart,” said another official. “In his new plan, Gen Thein Sein will be president.
“Alongside Thein Sein, two chiefs at the Bureau of Special Operations, Lt-Gen Myint Swe and Lt-Gen Khin Zaw, will also be on Than Shwe’s list,” he said.
According to the sources, Htay Oo, who is also the current general secretary of the USDA, was previously in Than Shwe's favor as the man to lead the future government.
Htay Oo was reputed to be in favor of presenting a “free and fair” election in front of the international community, however. Sources have said that at a government meeting last year, he advocated “allowing” opposition parties 30 to 40 percent of parliamentary seats.
Businessmen close to the generals are now tipping Lt-Gen Hla Htay Win, the chief of armed forces training and former commander of the Rangoon regional military command, to step into the fold as an important figure in Burma's armed forces.
However, the future of the current No 3 and 4 ranking generals—Gen Shwe Mann, the joint chief of staff and coordinator of special operations (army, navy, air force), and
Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, the quartermaster-general and junta secretary-1—is now regarded as unsure. The two are reported to be rivals.
Several Burma observers said they were surprised to read state-run reports in the press that Tin Aung Myint Oo was absent from Than Shwe’s religious ceremony in Naypyidaw on Monday. However, Shwe Mann was present.
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Burma's Prime Minster Gen Thein Sein and about 20 other ministers are widely reported to be in the process of quitting their military posts to take on leading roles in a new pro-junta political party that will contest the general election this year, sources in Naypyidaw said.
Quoting Burmese officials in the capital, the sources said that Thein Sein and other generals, including: Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Maj-Gen Htay Oo; Minister of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs Brig-Gen Thein Zaw; and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Brig-Gen Phone Swe, will head the new party.
Although the ministers will resign from the military, sources said, they will retain their current positions within the government.
Burma's state-run media has to date made no mention of Thein Sein's new role, but ran footage and reports of the general attending a religious ceremony along with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and other top brass in Naypyidaw on Monday.
However, officials in Naypyidaw do not deny the reports. “You should listen out for the news. Then you'll hear confirmation,” an official from the Government Office in Naypyidaw told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
An editor with a private journal in Rangoon said, “As far I know, the news is confirmed. Officials in Naypyidaw told me the government will announce Thein Sein's candidacy in the coming days.”
Speculation among Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) members and businessmen in Rangoon is rife that Thein Sein will lead a pro-military party, which could be a proxy of the USDA, sources said, adding that respected civilians among local communities were being sought as candidates for the pro-government party.
An official from the pro-junta civic group, the USDA, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that Thein Sein was being groomed by Than Shwe to run as the party leader.
“It sounds very possible,” said Ohn Lwin, a politician in Rangoon whose party, the National Political Alliance, has applied to contest the election. “Gen Thein Sein could lead a party and become the next president.”
Several official sources have recently tipped Thein Sein to play a leading role in a post-election government.
“Following the NLD [the main opposition National League for Democracy] decision not to register as a political party for the election, Snr-Gen Than Shwe has had a change of heart,” said another official. “In his new plan, Gen Thein Sein will be president.
“Alongside Thein Sein, two chiefs at the Bureau of Special Operations, Lt-Gen Myint Swe and Lt-Gen Khin Zaw, will also be on Than Shwe’s list,” he said.
According to the sources, Htay Oo, who is also the current general secretary of the USDA, was previously in Than Shwe's favor as the man to lead the future government.
Htay Oo was reputed to be in favor of presenting a “free and fair” election in front of the international community, however. Sources have said that at a government meeting last year, he advocated “allowing” opposition parties 30 to 40 percent of parliamentary seats.
Businessmen close to the generals are now tipping Lt-Gen Hla Htay Win, the chief of armed forces training and former commander of the Rangoon regional military command, to step into the fold as an important figure in Burma's armed forces.
However, the future of the current No 3 and 4 ranking generals—Gen Shwe Mann, the joint chief of staff and coordinator of special operations (army, navy, air force), and
Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, the quartermaster-general and junta secretary-1—is now regarded as unsure. The two are reported to be rivals.
Several Burma observers said they were surprised to read state-run reports in the press that Tin Aung Myint Oo was absent from Than Shwe’s religious ceremony in Naypyidaw on Monday. However, Shwe Mann was present.
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