Rights group slams Myanmar junta on poll anniversary
Thu May 27, 2:56 am ET
BANGKOK (AFP) – A leading rights group marked the 20th anniversary of Myanmar's last elections on Thursday by calling on the junta's allies to demand a credible political process ahead of this year's polls.
The military-ruled country's last national vote, held on May 27, 1990, was won by a landslide by the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but the ruling generals never let her party take power.
"The 1990 elections sent a clear message to the Burmese military that the people wanted them out of power," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch. Burma is Myanmar's former name.
"The generals won?t make the same mistake twice. The past 20 years have been a stage-managed process to ensure the military controls the future parliament," she said in a statement.
The country's first elections since 1990 are due to be held by the end of November this year.
The NLD was forcibly dissolved after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader and recognise the junta's controversial constitution.
Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 20 years in jail or house arrest.
Human Rights Watch said the upcoming elections "appear designed to enshrine military rule with a civilian face".
"Only the most cynical of governments could endorse Burma's deeply flawed process," Pearson said, urging Myanmar's diplomatic and trade partners, such as China, India, Russia, and Singapore, to exert pressure on the government.
"On the 20th anniversary of a crushed election, Burma's friends should insist on the immediate release of political prisoners and an inclusive and credible political process."
Human Rights Watch also called on the international community to impose more "calibrated and targeted" sanctions on Myanmar's military and its business associates.
On Wednesday the nations of Southeast Asia and the European Union urged Myanmar to ensure forthcoming elections are "credible and transparent", as the EU pressed the junta to allow a team to visit the country to discuss the polls.
Thu May 27, 2:56 am ET
BANGKOK (AFP) – A leading rights group marked the 20th anniversary of Myanmar's last elections on Thursday by calling on the junta's allies to demand a credible political process ahead of this year's polls.
The military-ruled country's last national vote, held on May 27, 1990, was won by a landslide by the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but the ruling generals never let her party take power.
"The 1990 elections sent a clear message to the Burmese military that the people wanted them out of power," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch. Burma is Myanmar's former name.
"The generals won?t make the same mistake twice. The past 20 years have been a stage-managed process to ensure the military controls the future parliament," she said in a statement.
The country's first elections since 1990 are due to be held by the end of November this year.
The NLD was forcibly dissolved after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader and recognise the junta's controversial constitution.
Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 20 years in jail or house arrest.
Human Rights Watch said the upcoming elections "appear designed to enshrine military rule with a civilian face".
"Only the most cynical of governments could endorse Burma's deeply flawed process," Pearson said, urging Myanmar's diplomatic and trade partners, such as China, India, Russia, and Singapore, to exert pressure on the government.
"On the 20th anniversary of a crushed election, Burma's friends should insist on the immediate release of political prisoners and an inclusive and credible political process."
Human Rights Watch also called on the international community to impose more "calibrated and targeted" sanctions on Myanmar's military and its business associates.
On Wednesday the nations of Southeast Asia and the European Union urged Myanmar to ensure forthcoming elections are "credible and transparent", as the EU pressed the junta to allow a team to visit the country to discuss the polls.
***************************************************
Suu Kyi party marks 20 years since Myanmar poll win
Thu May 27, 7:12 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Members of Aung San Suu Kyi's now-defunct political party on Thursday marked 20 years since Myanmar's last elections as activists called for greater international pressure on the junta.
Supporters of the detained pro-democracy icon gathered in Yangon two decades after their National League for Democracy (NLD) party won polls by a landslide in a result that the country's ruling generals refused to recognise.
The first elections since then are due later this year but the NLD was forcibly dissolved this month after refusing to meet a deadline to re-register as a political party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its leader.
"The NLD has struggled through very rough situations in the past two decades," said 83-year-old Tin Oo, vice-chairman of the former party, as he hosted a tea party for the anniversary of the May 27, 1990 vote.
The group marked the date by pledging educational assistance for family members of Myanmar's political prisoners and by planting trees inside Tin Oo's compound.
"The NLD is still standing. We will keep trying until we are allowed to work officially," pro-democracy activist Phyu Phyu Thin told AFP.
Suu Kyi herself has been locked up for most of the past 20 years and is currently under house arrest at her lakeside home in Yangon.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Human Rights Watch used the anniversary to urge Myanmar's diplomatic and trade partners, including China, India, Russia, and Singapore, to exert pressure on the junta to pursue a "genuinely open political reform process".
The New York-based rights group urged allies of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, not to endorse the upcoming elections, which "appear designed to enshrine military rule with a civilian face".
"Only the most cynical of governments could endorse Burma's deeply flawed process," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at HRW.
"On the 20th anniversary of a crushed election, Burma's friends should insist on the immediate release of political prisoners and an inclusive and credible political process."
There are currently more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma, including 428 members of the NLD arrested and sentenced since 1990, the rights group said.
It also called on the international community to impose more "calibrated and targeted" sanctions on Myanmar's military and its business associates.
A faction within the NLD has said it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to run in the election.
The move came amid signs of a split between older, hardline former NLD members and younger, more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
On Wednesday the nations of Southeast Asia and the European Union urged Myanmar to ensure forthcoming elections are "credible and transparent", as the EU pressed the junta to allow a team to visit the country to discuss the poll.
Thu May 27, 7:12 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Members of Aung San Suu Kyi's now-defunct political party on Thursday marked 20 years since Myanmar's last elections as activists called for greater international pressure on the junta.
Supporters of the detained pro-democracy icon gathered in Yangon two decades after their National League for Democracy (NLD) party won polls by a landslide in a result that the country's ruling generals refused to recognise.
The first elections since then are due later this year but the NLD was forcibly dissolved this month after refusing to meet a deadline to re-register as a political party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its leader.
"The NLD has struggled through very rough situations in the past two decades," said 83-year-old Tin Oo, vice-chairman of the former party, as he hosted a tea party for the anniversary of the May 27, 1990 vote.
The group marked the date by pledging educational assistance for family members of Myanmar's political prisoners and by planting trees inside Tin Oo's compound.
"The NLD is still standing. We will keep trying until we are allowed to work officially," pro-democracy activist Phyu Phyu Thin told AFP.
Suu Kyi herself has been locked up for most of the past 20 years and is currently under house arrest at her lakeside home in Yangon.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
Human Rights Watch used the anniversary to urge Myanmar's diplomatic and trade partners, including China, India, Russia, and Singapore, to exert pressure on the junta to pursue a "genuinely open political reform process".
The New York-based rights group urged allies of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, not to endorse the upcoming elections, which "appear designed to enshrine military rule with a civilian face".
"Only the most cynical of governments could endorse Burma's deeply flawed process," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at HRW.
"On the 20th anniversary of a crushed election, Burma's friends should insist on the immediate release of political prisoners and an inclusive and credible political process."
There are currently more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma, including 428 members of the NLD arrested and sentenced since 1990, the rights group said.
It also called on the international community to impose more "calibrated and targeted" sanctions on Myanmar's military and its business associates.
A faction within the NLD has said it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to run in the election.
The move came amid signs of a split between older, hardline former NLD members and younger, more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
On Wednesday the nations of Southeast Asia and the European Union urged Myanmar to ensure forthcoming elections are "credible and transparent", as the EU pressed the junta to allow a team to visit the country to discuss the poll.
***************************************************
Asian conflicts exact heavy civilian toll in 2009: Amnesty
Thu May 27, 2:23 am ET
LONDON (AFP) – Asian conflicts took a brutal toll on civilians in 2009, killing thousands and leaving millions homeless, destitute and often ignored by governments responsible for their misery, Amnesty said Thursday.
From Afghanistan and Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, civilians caught up in fighting between government forces and insurgents were left to fend for themselves, with international monitors repeatedly denied access to the worst-affected regions.
In its annual global report, which focused on a lack of accountability for even the most glaring human rights violations, Amnesty International highlighted the plight of non-combatants during the final months of the war in Sri Lanka.
Between January and May 2009, some 300,000 civilians found themselves trapped between government troops and the remnants of the once powerful Tamil Tiger rebel army.
By the time of the Tigers' final defeat in May, some 7,000 civilians had died, according to the UN estimates, amid well-documented reports of abuses on both sides.
The Sri Lankan government dismissed all charges of war crimes by its forces -- including indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas -- and rejected calls for an international inquiry.
An attempt to censure Colombo at the UN Human Rights Council was blocked by member states such as China and ended with the adoption of a resolution commending the government for its military victory.
"One would be hard pressed to imagine a more complete failure to hold to account those who abuse human rights," said Amnesty's interim secretary general Claudio Cordone.
In Pakistan, more than two million people fled their homes near the Afghan border, some driven out by Taliban militants holding sway in the region but most by "brutal" government counter-insurgency offensives, the report said.
"The government's response to the long-standing conflict in the northwestern border with Afghanistan has vacillated between appeasement and extreme violence.
"Neither strategy indicates a government committed to protecting the rights of the Pakistani people," the London-based watchdog said.
In Afghanistan itself, Amnesty said nearly 2,500 civilians were killed and more than 60,000 displaced by a combination of escalating Taliban violence and the inability of the government and its international allies to improve the political and economic situation.
Despite the violence, millions of Afghans turned out for presidential elections, but Amnesty said their efforts were undermined by voter harassment and ballot fraud that "further eroded the Afghan people's right to participate in the conduct of their public affairs."
On the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, more than 200,000 civilians continued to live in camps or makeshift shelters, sometimes surrounded by a heavy military presence, despite the July ceasefire between the government and Muslim separatist rebels.
In other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, political and ethnic repression forced thousands to flee countries such as North Korea and Myanmar -- often for nations hostile to their presence.
North Koreans caught crossing into China were forcibly repatriated to face detention, forced labour and torture, Amnesty said.
North Korea's key ally China has "a balancing act to play since it is one of the most able (countries) to exert pressure on North Korea," Catherine Baber, Amnesty's deputy Asia-Pacific regional director, told a news conference in Hong Kong.
Thousands of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority fled persecution at home in boats sailing for Thailand and Malaysia.
Thai security forces expelled hundreds of them, setting them adrift in "unseaworthy vessels with little or no food or water," the report said.
Millions more left their homes in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines in the search of better lives in developed economies such as South Korea, Japan and Malaysia where they often faced acute discrimination.
Official records divulged in 2009 showed that Malaysia had caned 35,000 migrants between 2002 and 2008, in what Amnesty described as "cruel and degrading punishment on a monumental scale."
Amnesty saw a spike in Asian governments clamping down on human rights last year, partly due to the proliferation of Internet use in the region, Baber said.
"Many governments are spooked by the activities of their citizens online," she added.
Thu May 27, 2:23 am ET
LONDON (AFP) – Asian conflicts took a brutal toll on civilians in 2009, killing thousands and leaving millions homeless, destitute and often ignored by governments responsible for their misery, Amnesty said Thursday.
From Afghanistan and Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, civilians caught up in fighting between government forces and insurgents were left to fend for themselves, with international monitors repeatedly denied access to the worst-affected regions.
In its annual global report, which focused on a lack of accountability for even the most glaring human rights violations, Amnesty International highlighted the plight of non-combatants during the final months of the war in Sri Lanka.
Between January and May 2009, some 300,000 civilians found themselves trapped between government troops and the remnants of the once powerful Tamil Tiger rebel army.
By the time of the Tigers' final defeat in May, some 7,000 civilians had died, according to the UN estimates, amid well-documented reports of abuses on both sides.
The Sri Lankan government dismissed all charges of war crimes by its forces -- including indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas -- and rejected calls for an international inquiry.
An attempt to censure Colombo at the UN Human Rights Council was blocked by member states such as China and ended with the adoption of a resolution commending the government for its military victory.
"One would be hard pressed to imagine a more complete failure to hold to account those who abuse human rights," said Amnesty's interim secretary general Claudio Cordone.
In Pakistan, more than two million people fled their homes near the Afghan border, some driven out by Taliban militants holding sway in the region but most by "brutal" government counter-insurgency offensives, the report said.
"The government's response to the long-standing conflict in the northwestern border with Afghanistan has vacillated between appeasement and extreme violence.
"Neither strategy indicates a government committed to protecting the rights of the Pakistani people," the London-based watchdog said.
In Afghanistan itself, Amnesty said nearly 2,500 civilians were killed and more than 60,000 displaced by a combination of escalating Taliban violence and the inability of the government and its international allies to improve the political and economic situation.
Despite the violence, millions of Afghans turned out for presidential elections, but Amnesty said their efforts were undermined by voter harassment and ballot fraud that "further eroded the Afghan people's right to participate in the conduct of their public affairs."
On the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, more than 200,000 civilians continued to live in camps or makeshift shelters, sometimes surrounded by a heavy military presence, despite the July ceasefire between the government and Muslim separatist rebels.
In other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, political and ethnic repression forced thousands to flee countries such as North Korea and Myanmar -- often for nations hostile to their presence.
North Koreans caught crossing into China were forcibly repatriated to face detention, forced labour and torture, Amnesty said.
North Korea's key ally China has "a balancing act to play since it is one of the most able (countries) to exert pressure on North Korea," Catherine Baber, Amnesty's deputy Asia-Pacific regional director, told a news conference in Hong Kong.
Thousands of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority fled persecution at home in boats sailing for Thailand and Malaysia.
Thai security forces expelled hundreds of them, setting them adrift in "unseaworthy vessels with little or no food or water," the report said.
Millions more left their homes in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines in the search of better lives in developed economies such as South Korea, Japan and Malaysia where they often faced acute discrimination.
Official records divulged in 2009 showed that Malaysia had caned 35,000 migrants between 2002 and 2008, in what Amnesty described as "cruel and degrading punishment on a monumental scale."
Amnesty saw a spike in Asian governments clamping down on human rights last year, partly due to the proliferation of Internet use in the region, Baber said.
"Many governments are spooked by the activities of their citizens online," she added.
***************************************************
Reuters AlertNet - Myanmar (Burma): Delivering clean water in the dry season
27 May 2010 14:08:49 GMT
Source: Merlin - UK
Merlin is delivering clean water to over 20,000 people in 46 villages in Laputta Township, reaching communities who have been affected by severe water shortages since March, when the dry season took hold.
The monsoon rains were late to arrive this year, and the villagers' inability to cope with this lack of rainfall was compounded by Cyclone Nargis, which destroyed their existing water management infrastructure.
The bottom of the rainwater ponds are cracked and crumbly, the rainwater tanks are bone dry, and the cost of buying water from water vendors has risen sharply. These water shortages carry risks to both the health and livelihoods of villagers in the Township.
Merlin's response
Since March, we have set up specialist filtering machines, called reverse osmosis units, in the village of Boe Khway Gyi, where a low saline canal provides a water source. The water from the canal is filtered to produce clean water, and then pumped directly onto Merlin's nine water distribution boats. Merlin boatmen then deliver the water to the rest of the villages.
With every boat carrying up to 12,800 litres of water, each person in each village receives an average of four litres of water per day. The deliveries are greatly valued by communities who would otherwise have to drink the contaminated water that surrounds them in the Delta, or pay high prices for clean water from water vendors.
In May we scaled up our response to provide water for almost double the number of villages and the number of people we were reaching previously. Since water distribution began, no cases of diarrhoea have been reported in any of the villages.
To date, over two million litres of water have been distributed, giving thousands the chance to lead healthier lives.
Working with communities
In addition to distributing water, Merlin is working with communities to promote public health in all villages, emphasising safe water handling and hand washing. We are also planning for the long term: building new rainwater ponds and rehabilitating old ponds, constructing rainwater catchment tanks for schools and health centres, and training communities about water management.
Merlin's dry season response is funded by AusAid and uses reverse osmosis machines funded by DFID and the DEC. Our work in Myanmar (Burma) is also made possible thanks to generous donations from the UK public.
27 May 2010 14:08:49 GMT
Source: Merlin - UK
Merlin is delivering clean water to over 20,000 people in 46 villages in Laputta Township, reaching communities who have been affected by severe water shortages since March, when the dry season took hold.
The monsoon rains were late to arrive this year, and the villagers' inability to cope with this lack of rainfall was compounded by Cyclone Nargis, which destroyed their existing water management infrastructure.
The bottom of the rainwater ponds are cracked and crumbly, the rainwater tanks are bone dry, and the cost of buying water from water vendors has risen sharply. These water shortages carry risks to both the health and livelihoods of villagers in the Township.
Merlin's response
Since March, we have set up specialist filtering machines, called reverse osmosis units, in the village of Boe Khway Gyi, where a low saline canal provides a water source. The water from the canal is filtered to produce clean water, and then pumped directly onto Merlin's nine water distribution boats. Merlin boatmen then deliver the water to the rest of the villages.
With every boat carrying up to 12,800 litres of water, each person in each village receives an average of four litres of water per day. The deliveries are greatly valued by communities who would otherwise have to drink the contaminated water that surrounds them in the Delta, or pay high prices for clean water from water vendors.
In May we scaled up our response to provide water for almost double the number of villages and the number of people we were reaching previously. Since water distribution began, no cases of diarrhoea have been reported in any of the villages.
To date, over two million litres of water have been distributed, giving thousands the chance to lead healthier lives.
Working with communities
In addition to distributing water, Merlin is working with communities to promote public health in all villages, emphasising safe water handling and hand washing. We are also planning for the long term: building new rainwater ponds and rehabilitating old ponds, constructing rainwater catchment tanks for schools and health centres, and training communities about water management.
Merlin's dry season response is funded by AusAid and uses reverse osmosis machines funded by DFID and the DEC. Our work in Myanmar (Burma) is also made possible thanks to generous donations from the UK public.
***************************************************
Asia News Network - Myanmar’s prison of an election will also be ASEAN’s
U Win Tin
The Jakarta Post
Publication Date : 27-05-2010
In Myanmar’s last elections, twenty years ago today, the people of Myanmar voted for a democratic change by overwhelmingly electing the National League for Democracy (NLD). However, the people’s desire was never honored.
Ever since the military regime lost in the 1990 elections, they have been trying to violently sideline the NLD.
The most recent evidence of this is the issuing of highly restrictive election laws, requiring political parties, including the NLD, to cast out members imprisoned as political prisoners and pledge to abide by the deeply flawed 2008 Constitution.
These election laws have left us, the NLD, with no principled or practical options but to refuse to participate in the elections. Other 1990 election-winning ethnic political parties have made the same decision.
If the military’s elections go ahead without the participation of key parties and are accepted by the international community, the military rule will be further entrenched and stand in the way of ASEAN’s goals of regional peace, stability, and progress.
When the NLD began campaigning for the 1990 elections in Myanmar, our members throughout the country saw the immense physical suffering and widespread discontent that existed everywhere.
People were hungry for freedom and democratic change after decades of living under a military dictatorship. The NLD’s triumph in the polls — winning over 82 percent of seats in the parliament — was a strong sign that people trusted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD to help bring positive change to their country.
The NLD wanted to create a new constitution and a new Myanmar that respected the rights of all people, through cooperation and trust building. Though we were denied our rightful positions in the government, we have continuously worked towards these goals and will do the same even now that we have been outlawed by the regime.
We have repeatedly extended our hand to the military regime asking for the inclusive dialogue needed to move towards national reconciliation, only to be rejected time and time again. We were barred from participating in their sham “Roadmap to Democracy,” including the writing of the 2008 Constitution.
With the announcement of new election laws, the regime officially annulled the results of the 1990 elections and our landslide victory claiming, “the result does not conform with the [2008] Constitution”.
However, the constitution itself does not conform with the will of the people as well as international standards. Forcibly ratified in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the constitution guarantees continued military control, ethnic repression and restricts political freedom.
The NLD’s decision to not participate in the election has been quite controversial. Some people in the international community see these elections as a hopeful step forward.
However, it is clear to us that they will not improve the lives of the people of Myanmar. We cannot participate in elections that go against the very principles of democracy, rule of law, human rights for which thousands of people have sacrificed their lives.
Moreover, we cannot participate for several practical reasons. The regime continues to deny ethnic communities — over 30 percent of Myanmar’s population — equal rights and self-determination resulting in ongoing armed conflict, more refugees and increased instability.
Many ethnic communities and armed groups are opposing the elections unless their demands for ethnic equality are met. They have supported Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the urgent need for genuine political dialogue, and we will not turn our backs on their demands.
These elections will also not ease the dire poverty that the majority of people in Myanmar face. The economy will still be under the control of the hands of the military regime and its cronies, driven by their personal gains rather than the needs of the people.
Despite the tremendous flaws with the upcoming elections, there has been a noticeable and troubling silence from ASEAN. ASEAN must recognize that what happens in Myanmar will affect the entire region.
ASEAN is working towards greater integration by 2015. However, if the elections proceed according to the regime’s plans, ASEAN will be aligning themselves with an unstable country that stands on false democratic methods and restricting their own progress.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan has excused ASEAN’s inaction by stating that ASEAN is “not a magic wand that can deliver a miracle in every issue.” ASEAN may not be a “magic wand”, but it is certainly poised to have the greatest geostrategic influence on the behavior of its most unruly member.
ASEAN has significant political leverage on Myanmar and must pressure the regime to finally take the necessary steps towards national reconciliation: release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, cease attacks against ethnic communities, and engage in inclusive dialogue with democratic and ethnic representatives. ASEAN can no longer hide behind its policy of non-interference, allowing tyranny to continue beyond these elections.
The NLD is committed to finding the right solutions for Myanmar. We made the decision to not participate because it is what is right and what is needed.
I implore ASEAN and the international community to do the same by calling on the regime to take steps towards national reconciliation and genuine democracy, and refuse to recognize the results of these elections if they fail to do so.
The writer is a member of the central executive committee and a founder of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy party. He was a political prisoner for 19 years from 1989 to 2008.
U Win Tin
The Jakarta Post
Publication Date : 27-05-2010
In Myanmar’s last elections, twenty years ago today, the people of Myanmar voted for a democratic change by overwhelmingly electing the National League for Democracy (NLD). However, the people’s desire was never honored.
Ever since the military regime lost in the 1990 elections, they have been trying to violently sideline the NLD.
The most recent evidence of this is the issuing of highly restrictive election laws, requiring political parties, including the NLD, to cast out members imprisoned as political prisoners and pledge to abide by the deeply flawed 2008 Constitution.
These election laws have left us, the NLD, with no principled or practical options but to refuse to participate in the elections. Other 1990 election-winning ethnic political parties have made the same decision.
If the military’s elections go ahead without the participation of key parties and are accepted by the international community, the military rule will be further entrenched and stand in the way of ASEAN’s goals of regional peace, stability, and progress.
When the NLD began campaigning for the 1990 elections in Myanmar, our members throughout the country saw the immense physical suffering and widespread discontent that existed everywhere.
People were hungry for freedom and democratic change after decades of living under a military dictatorship. The NLD’s triumph in the polls — winning over 82 percent of seats in the parliament — was a strong sign that people trusted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD to help bring positive change to their country.
The NLD wanted to create a new constitution and a new Myanmar that respected the rights of all people, through cooperation and trust building. Though we were denied our rightful positions in the government, we have continuously worked towards these goals and will do the same even now that we have been outlawed by the regime.
We have repeatedly extended our hand to the military regime asking for the inclusive dialogue needed to move towards national reconciliation, only to be rejected time and time again. We were barred from participating in their sham “Roadmap to Democracy,” including the writing of the 2008 Constitution.
With the announcement of new election laws, the regime officially annulled the results of the 1990 elections and our landslide victory claiming, “the result does not conform with the [2008] Constitution”.
However, the constitution itself does not conform with the will of the people as well as international standards. Forcibly ratified in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the constitution guarantees continued military control, ethnic repression and restricts political freedom.
The NLD’s decision to not participate in the election has been quite controversial. Some people in the international community see these elections as a hopeful step forward.
However, it is clear to us that they will not improve the lives of the people of Myanmar. We cannot participate in elections that go against the very principles of democracy, rule of law, human rights for which thousands of people have sacrificed their lives.
Moreover, we cannot participate for several practical reasons. The regime continues to deny ethnic communities — over 30 percent of Myanmar’s population — equal rights and self-determination resulting in ongoing armed conflict, more refugees and increased instability.
Many ethnic communities and armed groups are opposing the elections unless their demands for ethnic equality are met. They have supported Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the urgent need for genuine political dialogue, and we will not turn our backs on their demands.
These elections will also not ease the dire poverty that the majority of people in Myanmar face. The economy will still be under the control of the hands of the military regime and its cronies, driven by their personal gains rather than the needs of the people.
Despite the tremendous flaws with the upcoming elections, there has been a noticeable and troubling silence from ASEAN. ASEAN must recognize that what happens in Myanmar will affect the entire region.
ASEAN is working towards greater integration by 2015. However, if the elections proceed according to the regime’s plans, ASEAN will be aligning themselves with an unstable country that stands on false democratic methods and restricting their own progress.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan has excused ASEAN’s inaction by stating that ASEAN is “not a magic wand that can deliver a miracle in every issue.” ASEAN may not be a “magic wand”, but it is certainly poised to have the greatest geostrategic influence on the behavior of its most unruly member.
ASEAN has significant political leverage on Myanmar and must pressure the regime to finally take the necessary steps towards national reconciliation: release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, cease attacks against ethnic communities, and engage in inclusive dialogue with democratic and ethnic representatives. ASEAN can no longer hide behind its policy of non-interference, allowing tyranny to continue beyond these elections.
The NLD is committed to finding the right solutions for Myanmar. We made the decision to not participate because it is what is right and what is needed.
I implore ASEAN and the international community to do the same by calling on the regime to take steps towards national reconciliation and genuine democracy, and refuse to recognize the results of these elections if they fail to do so.
The writer is a member of the central executive committee and a founder of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy party. He was a political prisoner for 19 years from 1989 to 2008.
***************************************************
Forbes - Reversing Yangon's Decline
Thomas Kean, 05.26.10, 06:00 PM EDT
Why the decrepit former capital is still Myanmar's most important city for business.
There's a saying in Myanmar that, roughly translated, says you go to Mawlamyine for food, Mandalay for conversation and Yangon to show off. Poor Yangon.
But since the military shifted the seat of government to newly constructed Naypyidaw in late 2005, the city (also known as Rangoon) cannot even be described as the top place to display ill-gotten wealth anymore. Many of its crumbling colonial and towering Chinese-style mansions now lie vacant, their owners summoned to the new capital, and the long government motorcades that were once an everyday annoyance are now a rare sight.
Set on the arid plains of upper Myanmar, Naypyidaw has been a significant drain on the country's finances and is estimated to have cost at least $4 billion. Nowhere has the effect been felt more than in Yangon, where potted roads, blackouts and weeds growing from old government offices speak of the deliberate neglect that is taking place.
The present military rulers have always been ambivalent about this "foreign" city, which was little more than a village when the British established it as the capital of lower Burma after the Second Anglo-Burmese War in the 1850s. The shift north owes more to strategy and tradition than the oft-cited astrological motives. Naypyidaw is centrally located and in the traditional heartland of Burmese kings. It's also far away from the two main perceived threats to military rule and, in the words of the generals, most likely causes of "disintegration of the union": foreign invasion and popular uprising.
Under the 2008 Constitution, the 440-member Pyithu Hluttaw, or House of Representatives, must convene within 90 days of the general election, scheduled for sometime later this year. Both elected and appointed delegates--25% of seats are reserved for military candidates--will meet in a 31-building parliament complex which should be completed by the end of May.
That first session, marking the country's return to democracy after 48 years of military rule, will be another indicator of Yangon's demise. But it is precisely because of the city's faults in the eyes of the generals--its foreignness, population base and location--that it will continue to be the country's most important urban area.
The shift to Naypyidaw has found little acceptance, both locally and internationally. Government staff forced to move have done so only reluctantly, and local businesses, outside of the construction industry, still see few opportunities there at present.
Only a handful of embassies--the Chinese and the North Koreans--have moved north, while the United Nations continues to be scattered across Yangon. When the U.N. began looking for a large office space late last year to integrate its agencies, there was little discussion of the possibility of transferring to the new capital.
With no international flights to Naypyidaw, Yangon remains the center of international trade. Its 5 million residents represent the largest consumer market and the country's primary port, at Thilawa, is just 25 kilometers away, as are most of Myanmar's industrial zones. If the much-anticipated law permitting Special Economic Zones, modeled on the Pearl River Delta, is finally introduced, Thilawa would be the mostly likely location for these, providing a much-needed boost to employment.
Much of what remains of the country's human capital is based in Yangon, and it continues to be the most vibrant city in Myanmar, the only one that could even remotely be called cosmopolitan or international.
There are also signs that the decline in fortunes in recent years will soon reverse. The elections might be the sham that many in the international community expect, but the spectrum of polls has at least forced the military regime to reconsider its priorities. More emphasis is now being put on delivering services to appease voters in the lead-up to polling day.
One of the main gripes in Yangon, the city most susceptible to political unrest, is the lack of electricity; the government supplies only 300 megawatts a day, less than half of the estimated demand. Some neighborhoods receive less than eight hours of power a day, while most get no more than 12. As a consequence, businesses and households rely heavily on generators fueled by subsidized diesel--or simply go without.
A new natural gas pipeline from the Yadana offshore field--operated by French company Total--should help alleviate the power outages. At an estimated cost of $270 million, the pipeline project is a rare display of government largesse in lower Myanmar, and should conveniently come online in the third quarter of 2010.
While the city is now more of a transit point for up-country travel (with a brief stop-off at Shwedagon Pagoda, of course), with more investment in a wider range of accommodation and a revitalization of the city's colonial districts, it could become a tourist destination in its own right.
But the greatest hope for the city's future perhaps lies in the possibility of a post-election business revival. Economic development and opportunities are shaping up as the crucial election issues, and among the first acts of the new, mostly civilian government should be sweeping economic reforms that make the country a more attractive place for foreign investment, both large- and small-scale.
If this happens, Yangon could be transformed from a crumbling colonial relic to the fulcrum of Myanmar's reintegration into the global economy.
Thomas Kean, 05.26.10, 06:00 PM EDT
Why the decrepit former capital is still Myanmar's most important city for business.
There's a saying in Myanmar that, roughly translated, says you go to Mawlamyine for food, Mandalay for conversation and Yangon to show off. Poor Yangon.
But since the military shifted the seat of government to newly constructed Naypyidaw in late 2005, the city (also known as Rangoon) cannot even be described as the top place to display ill-gotten wealth anymore. Many of its crumbling colonial and towering Chinese-style mansions now lie vacant, their owners summoned to the new capital, and the long government motorcades that were once an everyday annoyance are now a rare sight.
Set on the arid plains of upper Myanmar, Naypyidaw has been a significant drain on the country's finances and is estimated to have cost at least $4 billion. Nowhere has the effect been felt more than in Yangon, where potted roads, blackouts and weeds growing from old government offices speak of the deliberate neglect that is taking place.
The present military rulers have always been ambivalent about this "foreign" city, which was little more than a village when the British established it as the capital of lower Burma after the Second Anglo-Burmese War in the 1850s. The shift north owes more to strategy and tradition than the oft-cited astrological motives. Naypyidaw is centrally located and in the traditional heartland of Burmese kings. It's also far away from the two main perceived threats to military rule and, in the words of the generals, most likely causes of "disintegration of the union": foreign invasion and popular uprising.
Under the 2008 Constitution, the 440-member Pyithu Hluttaw, or House of Representatives, must convene within 90 days of the general election, scheduled for sometime later this year. Both elected and appointed delegates--25% of seats are reserved for military candidates--will meet in a 31-building parliament complex which should be completed by the end of May.
That first session, marking the country's return to democracy after 48 years of military rule, will be another indicator of Yangon's demise. But it is precisely because of the city's faults in the eyes of the generals--its foreignness, population base and location--that it will continue to be the country's most important urban area.
The shift to Naypyidaw has found little acceptance, both locally and internationally. Government staff forced to move have done so only reluctantly, and local businesses, outside of the construction industry, still see few opportunities there at present.
Only a handful of embassies--the Chinese and the North Koreans--have moved north, while the United Nations continues to be scattered across Yangon. When the U.N. began looking for a large office space late last year to integrate its agencies, there was little discussion of the possibility of transferring to the new capital.
With no international flights to Naypyidaw, Yangon remains the center of international trade. Its 5 million residents represent the largest consumer market and the country's primary port, at Thilawa, is just 25 kilometers away, as are most of Myanmar's industrial zones. If the much-anticipated law permitting Special Economic Zones, modeled on the Pearl River Delta, is finally introduced, Thilawa would be the mostly likely location for these, providing a much-needed boost to employment.
Much of what remains of the country's human capital is based in Yangon, and it continues to be the most vibrant city in Myanmar, the only one that could even remotely be called cosmopolitan or international.
There are also signs that the decline in fortunes in recent years will soon reverse. The elections might be the sham that many in the international community expect, but the spectrum of polls has at least forced the military regime to reconsider its priorities. More emphasis is now being put on delivering services to appease voters in the lead-up to polling day.
One of the main gripes in Yangon, the city most susceptible to political unrest, is the lack of electricity; the government supplies only 300 megawatts a day, less than half of the estimated demand. Some neighborhoods receive less than eight hours of power a day, while most get no more than 12. As a consequence, businesses and households rely heavily on generators fueled by subsidized diesel--or simply go without.
A new natural gas pipeline from the Yadana offshore field--operated by French company Total--should help alleviate the power outages. At an estimated cost of $270 million, the pipeline project is a rare display of government largesse in lower Myanmar, and should conveniently come online in the third quarter of 2010.
While the city is now more of a transit point for up-country travel (with a brief stop-off at Shwedagon Pagoda, of course), with more investment in a wider range of accommodation and a revitalization of the city's colonial districts, it could become a tourist destination in its own right.
But the greatest hope for the city's future perhaps lies in the possibility of a post-election business revival. Economic development and opportunities are shaping up as the crucial election issues, and among the first acts of the new, mostly civilian government should be sweeping economic reforms that make the country a more attractive place for foreign investment, both large- and small-scale.
If this happens, Yangon could be transformed from a crumbling colonial relic to the fulcrum of Myanmar's reintegration into the global economy.
***************************************************
May 27, 2010
The Straits Times - 'Stolen' poll win marked
YANGON - SUPPORTERS of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi gathered on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of their dissolved party's unrecognised victory in the country's last elections.
About 100 of her supporters met at the Yangon house of Tin Oo, vice chairman of the now-defunct National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the polls on May 27, 1990, by a landslide.
But the ruling generals in Myanmar, which has been military-run since 1962, never allowed Suu Kyi and her party to take power and she has spent most of the past two decades locked up in jail or under house arrest. The first elections since then are due later this year but the NLD was forcibly dissolved after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party - a move that would have forced it to expel its leader.
'The NLD has struggled through very rough situations in the past two decades,' 83-year-old Mr Tin Oo said during a tea party for the gathering. 'We said we would continue with social service work, but this is also a kind of politics,' he said. The group marked the anniversary by pledging educational assistance for family members of Myanmar's political prisoners and by planting trees inside Mr Tin Oo's compound.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
A faction within the NLD has said it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to run in the election. The move came amid signs of a split between older, hardline former NLD members and younger, more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
The Straits Times - 'Stolen' poll win marked
YANGON - SUPPORTERS of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi gathered on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of their dissolved party's unrecognised victory in the country's last elections.
About 100 of her supporters met at the Yangon house of Tin Oo, vice chairman of the now-defunct National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the polls on May 27, 1990, by a landslide.
But the ruling generals in Myanmar, which has been military-run since 1962, never allowed Suu Kyi and her party to take power and she has spent most of the past two decades locked up in jail or under house arrest. The first elections since then are due later this year but the NLD was forcibly dissolved after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party - a move that would have forced it to expel its leader.
'The NLD has struggled through very rough situations in the past two decades,' 83-year-old Mr Tin Oo said during a tea party for the gathering. 'We said we would continue with social service work, but this is also a kind of politics,' he said. The group marked the anniversary by pledging educational assistance for family members of Myanmar's political prisoners and by planting trees inside Mr Tin Oo's compound.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
A faction within the NLD has said it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to run in the election. The move came amid signs of a split between older, hardline former NLD members and younger, more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
***************************************************
Asian Tribune - Is Burma the first Causality of Chinese Imperialism?
Thu, 2010-05-27 03:07 — editor
By Kanbawza Win
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, is schedule to arrive in Burma, on June 2nd on the last leg of his tour to the four Asian countries. China which shares 1,370 miles (2,190 kilometres) of common border with Burma and is the third largest foreign trade partner with an estimated annually of $2 billion while the Chinese population residing is Burma is roughly about 5 million tan amounting to one tent of the country’s population.
“Imperialism” a dead word of the 19th and 20th centuries, where the West used to colonise the Afro Asian countries, has make its presence felt again only this time it has taken the form of economic sphere. The men on the Dragon throne are practicing a very sophisticated 21st century version of imperialism, in which Imperial China loans Afro Asian countries billions of dollars, in exchange for encumbering natural resources. These resources range from oil and natural gas to copper, cobalt, and titanium. As part of its debt encumbrance strategy, Imperial China gets to reduce its unemployment rate by using a large Chinese construction workforce to actually do the work – rather than relying so much on the native population and teaching them the technical know-how.
The Imperial Chinese Communist government has set-up uneven economic playing fields domestically and globally through currency manipulation, protectionism, worker mistreatment, lax regulation--if any at all--and ignoring product piracy within its borders e.g. 80% of pirate products seized in North America come from Imperial China. Such practices have fueled Imperial China's economic growth at an unsustainable pace. Throwing in a growing appetite for natural resources, both its own and those of other countries, Imperial China seems to be a ravenous beast, not easily sated. Its economic needs affect its judgment as the pressure to maintain the rate of economic growth encourages the maintenance of the same unfair and immoral practices.
Given the way Imperial China operates is no surprise to learn that it makes no moral ties to its economic needs abroad; looking the other way when dealing with dictators in Africa, Burma, Iran or North Korea for natural resources in exchange for weapons or help with infrastructure, which in turn helps Imperial China extract the rare natural resources. Environmental issues are also not high on their list of priorities. 18 of the 20 smoggiest cities are in China and that so-called "chog" finds its way into the air of its Asian neighbors. Then there is the disastrous treatment of the Chinese waterways: the Yellow River is often also blue, green or red; the three Gorges Dams is proving to be an environmental and health disaster. One wonders if the coverage of the upcoming Beijing Olympics will reveal such things for the world to see.
It has been known that large-scale hydroelectric dams have long been decried for the immense damage they do to the environment and rural communities and mega-dams outweigh their benefits. However on the other side, dams are a reliable supply of electricity, without which no country can hope to survive in the modern world. But in Burma this is not true. Not only do massive dam-building projects take an especially high toll on people’s lives—besides destroying villages and the environment, they result in intensifying human rights abuses and make diseases such as malaria more prevalent—they also come without a payoff for the general population.
The dams are part of a systematic plan by the military government to gain control over natural resource-rich ethnic areas to create wealth and to consolidate its political power base. This is not a new state of affairs. As the world already knows there is no rule of law in Burma, and the generals do not adhere to legal frameworks. They use the law not to protect people’s rights, but to control the population and to serve the economic interests of the Burmese government primarily through extracting wealth. The country’s major income comes from selling off natural resources, including billions of dollars from gas, and hydropower development. In a post-election context, one is quite sure of on-going human rights abuses and natural resource exploitation in the pursuit of economic development, as the markets will be increasingly opened up to foreign investment are purely for the economic benefit of the investors and the state and lead to disruption of local livelihoods and environmental destruction.
The 55 million people of Burma are among the most power-starved in the world. In Rangoon, many households, offices and workplaces receive no more than three or four hours of electricity a day. Power cuts are frequent and productivity is severely disrupted. Neighbourhoods band together to buy generators; families eat dinner and read books at night by kerosene lamps.
A classic example is in a country that is now a key supplier of energy resources to its neighbours, is when Mandalay, hosted the ASEAN conference on energy cooperation last July, the electricity department had to purchase 300 MW of electricity from the Chinese border town of Ruili (Shweli in Burmese) to light up the city.
Rangoon itself is dark at night but Burma's energy output has increased from 529 megawatts (MW) to 2,556 MW, since the bloody coup in 1988, with most of this going directly into China's power grid. Why aren't they using more energy? Part of the problem is that the Burmese economy has barely budged for decades and is more profitable to sell to neighbouring countries than to domestic consumers. A typical Burmese household relies on an array of equipment to meet its energy needs, including car batteries, chargers, inverters, generators and transformers all made in China for the Burma market. For most Burmese, life is almost unthinkable without all the extra gadgets that help them to make the most of their limited access to electricity. Some may even feel a grudging gratitude toward China for supplying many of the things that make life bearable in one of the world's most power-starved countries.
Hospitals, shopping centers, small businesses and industry zones, most of which will provide their own electricity supply through the use of private cheap generators from Imperial China. In Rangoon and Mandalay, electricity has been distributed under a rationing system for the past eight years, because authorities have not been able to keep up with rising demand. Rangoon’s 5 million residents need about 450 megawatts daily.
The only benefit the Burmese people can expect to get from the electricity they generate remains as scarce as ever. Conspicuously absent from these plans is any indication of
how the dams will help Burma to address its own energy needs? Experts estimate that Burma has a total hydroelectric capacity of 45,000 MW per annum if it is fully realized. However, the people of Burma, who must bear the social and environmental costs associated with mega-dams, will see little, if any, of this energy as long as government policy remains focused on catering to countries that help to keep the Burmese generals in power.
For its part, Imperial China’s chief concern is to ensure that it maximizes the return on its investment—something that doesn’t depend on tapping into Burmese demand. “Burma is a smaller country with less population relative to Imperial China, Most of the electricity generated cannot be consumed domestically. So for Chinese companies, they have to consider power transmission back to China when developing Burma’s hydropower resources.” was said by Zhou to China Investment. Obviously the military elite and their cronies will rake in massive rewards for their part in the sell-off. Revenue from electricity sales from the Myitsone Dam alone is estimated to be at least $558 million per year, hence not only Chinese imperialism but economic colonialism is felt as the men on the dragon throne successfully create its own economic colony without empire. Perhaps the next step would be like Tibet that Burma will soon became an autonomous region of greater Imperial China.
Imperial China now enjoys a strong lead in the race to claim a lion’s share of Burma’s rich natural resources. There are fewer than 69 Imperial Chinese multinational corporations involved in at least 90 hydropower, mining, and oil and natural gas projects in Burma. In return Imperial China has provided Burma with political support, military armaments and financial support in the form of conditions-free loans.
Burmese colony fits in neatly into Imperial China's “Two-Ocean Strategy”, under which Beijing is attempting to expand its influence to the Indian Ocean to enhance its security, such as establishment of a strategic network of road, rail and air transport and core pipelines of water, oil and gas between Yunnan Province and Kyaukpyu. An important component of the strategy is the Sino-Burmese gas and oil pipeline project from Kyaukpyu to Yunnan’s capital of Kunming will carry 80 percent of China’s imported oil from North Africa and the Middle East, as well as Burma’s natural gas from the Bay of Bengal.
To assume that China will overtake the US in 20 to 30 years, as some speculate, is to presume that the impressive Chinese economic growth of the past three decades can be maintained. Also the idea that China can be somehow become a “responsible stakeholder,” can be seen Wen Jaibao visit to Burma. His visit comes as the Junta prepares for an illegal general election sometime this year and it is to be seen whether the Chinese can influence the irregularities of the Burmese regime?
Wen Jiabao’s agenda in Burma is likely to focus on stability and national reconciliation in Burma ahead of the election to be held later in 2010. Points of discussion are expected to include the election, ethnic issues on the Sino-Burmese border and ties between Burma and North Korea. Wen Jiabao’s trip could be part of the international community’s efforts to influence the Burmese military junta. Beijing and Washington have cooperated on Burma issues in recent years, and the Chinese Premier's trip to Burma follows closely the trip by US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who visited Burma on May 9-10 and immediately Campbell visited Beijing and met with senior Chinese officials.
Although Beijing never publicly talks about Burma politics, Chinese officials have said privately that their government is disappointed in Burma’s electoral laws banning dissidents, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the 88 Generation Students group, from the election. And analysts have noted that the Junta’s electoral laws are in opposition to calls by China and other countries for an inclusive political process in Burma to promote national reconciliation.
To a greater or lesser extent, countries see the world in terms of national interest, and Imperial China is no exception but it tries to work within the existing international order, such as it is, to the extent that it suits Imperial China. But where this conflicts with Chinese interests, Beijing will look for an alternative. The recent Copenhagen climate summit China sees Western exhortations to act “responsibly” in Africa or with regard to Burma, Iran or North Korea, as cover for the West asking Imperial China to emasculate itself. Obviously rising powers do not usually allow themselves to be constrained by the norms and institutions set up by those they are trying to rival or even replace.
And amid the struggles in the West to cope with the global economic downturn, Imperial China now can portray its authoritarian state capitalist model as one to be emulated, irrespective of the implications for human rights and democracy in Imperial China and beyond. We should better ask Google, which has threatened to leave China due to censorship and alleged state hacking of its e-mail service. Every day, Chinese economic imperialism is climbing higher and higher and one of the barometers of whether Imperial China will act responsibly or not can be seen in Wen Jerboa’s trip to Burma of what will be its result.
Thu, 2010-05-27 03:07 — editor
By Kanbawza Win
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, is schedule to arrive in Burma, on June 2nd on the last leg of his tour to the four Asian countries. China which shares 1,370 miles (2,190 kilometres) of common border with Burma and is the third largest foreign trade partner with an estimated annually of $2 billion while the Chinese population residing is Burma is roughly about 5 million tan amounting to one tent of the country’s population.
“Imperialism” a dead word of the 19th and 20th centuries, where the West used to colonise the Afro Asian countries, has make its presence felt again only this time it has taken the form of economic sphere. The men on the Dragon throne are practicing a very sophisticated 21st century version of imperialism, in which Imperial China loans Afro Asian countries billions of dollars, in exchange for encumbering natural resources. These resources range from oil and natural gas to copper, cobalt, and titanium. As part of its debt encumbrance strategy, Imperial China gets to reduce its unemployment rate by using a large Chinese construction workforce to actually do the work – rather than relying so much on the native population and teaching them the technical know-how.
The Imperial Chinese Communist government has set-up uneven economic playing fields domestically and globally through currency manipulation, protectionism, worker mistreatment, lax regulation--if any at all--and ignoring product piracy within its borders e.g. 80% of pirate products seized in North America come from Imperial China. Such practices have fueled Imperial China's economic growth at an unsustainable pace. Throwing in a growing appetite for natural resources, both its own and those of other countries, Imperial China seems to be a ravenous beast, not easily sated. Its economic needs affect its judgment as the pressure to maintain the rate of economic growth encourages the maintenance of the same unfair and immoral practices.
Given the way Imperial China operates is no surprise to learn that it makes no moral ties to its economic needs abroad; looking the other way when dealing with dictators in Africa, Burma, Iran or North Korea for natural resources in exchange for weapons or help with infrastructure, which in turn helps Imperial China extract the rare natural resources. Environmental issues are also not high on their list of priorities. 18 of the 20 smoggiest cities are in China and that so-called "chog" finds its way into the air of its Asian neighbors. Then there is the disastrous treatment of the Chinese waterways: the Yellow River is often also blue, green or red; the three Gorges Dams is proving to be an environmental and health disaster. One wonders if the coverage of the upcoming Beijing Olympics will reveal such things for the world to see.
It has been known that large-scale hydroelectric dams have long been decried for the immense damage they do to the environment and rural communities and mega-dams outweigh their benefits. However on the other side, dams are a reliable supply of electricity, without which no country can hope to survive in the modern world. But in Burma this is not true. Not only do massive dam-building projects take an especially high toll on people’s lives—besides destroying villages and the environment, they result in intensifying human rights abuses and make diseases such as malaria more prevalent—they also come without a payoff for the general population.
The dams are part of a systematic plan by the military government to gain control over natural resource-rich ethnic areas to create wealth and to consolidate its political power base. This is not a new state of affairs. As the world already knows there is no rule of law in Burma, and the generals do not adhere to legal frameworks. They use the law not to protect people’s rights, but to control the population and to serve the economic interests of the Burmese government primarily through extracting wealth. The country’s major income comes from selling off natural resources, including billions of dollars from gas, and hydropower development. In a post-election context, one is quite sure of on-going human rights abuses and natural resource exploitation in the pursuit of economic development, as the markets will be increasingly opened up to foreign investment are purely for the economic benefit of the investors and the state and lead to disruption of local livelihoods and environmental destruction.
The 55 million people of Burma are among the most power-starved in the world. In Rangoon, many households, offices and workplaces receive no more than three or four hours of electricity a day. Power cuts are frequent and productivity is severely disrupted. Neighbourhoods band together to buy generators; families eat dinner and read books at night by kerosene lamps.
A classic example is in a country that is now a key supplier of energy resources to its neighbours, is when Mandalay, hosted the ASEAN conference on energy cooperation last July, the electricity department had to purchase 300 MW of electricity from the Chinese border town of Ruili (Shweli in Burmese) to light up the city.
Rangoon itself is dark at night but Burma's energy output has increased from 529 megawatts (MW) to 2,556 MW, since the bloody coup in 1988, with most of this going directly into China's power grid. Why aren't they using more energy? Part of the problem is that the Burmese economy has barely budged for decades and is more profitable to sell to neighbouring countries than to domestic consumers. A typical Burmese household relies on an array of equipment to meet its energy needs, including car batteries, chargers, inverters, generators and transformers all made in China for the Burma market. For most Burmese, life is almost unthinkable without all the extra gadgets that help them to make the most of their limited access to electricity. Some may even feel a grudging gratitude toward China for supplying many of the things that make life bearable in one of the world's most power-starved countries.
Hospitals, shopping centers, small businesses and industry zones, most of which will provide their own electricity supply through the use of private cheap generators from Imperial China. In Rangoon and Mandalay, electricity has been distributed under a rationing system for the past eight years, because authorities have not been able to keep up with rising demand. Rangoon’s 5 million residents need about 450 megawatts daily.
The only benefit the Burmese people can expect to get from the electricity they generate remains as scarce as ever. Conspicuously absent from these plans is any indication of
how the dams will help Burma to address its own energy needs? Experts estimate that Burma has a total hydroelectric capacity of 45,000 MW per annum if it is fully realized. However, the people of Burma, who must bear the social and environmental costs associated with mega-dams, will see little, if any, of this energy as long as government policy remains focused on catering to countries that help to keep the Burmese generals in power.
For its part, Imperial China’s chief concern is to ensure that it maximizes the return on its investment—something that doesn’t depend on tapping into Burmese demand. “Burma is a smaller country with less population relative to Imperial China, Most of the electricity generated cannot be consumed domestically. So for Chinese companies, they have to consider power transmission back to China when developing Burma’s hydropower resources.” was said by Zhou to China Investment. Obviously the military elite and their cronies will rake in massive rewards for their part in the sell-off. Revenue from electricity sales from the Myitsone Dam alone is estimated to be at least $558 million per year, hence not only Chinese imperialism but economic colonialism is felt as the men on the dragon throne successfully create its own economic colony without empire. Perhaps the next step would be like Tibet that Burma will soon became an autonomous region of greater Imperial China.
Imperial China now enjoys a strong lead in the race to claim a lion’s share of Burma’s rich natural resources. There are fewer than 69 Imperial Chinese multinational corporations involved in at least 90 hydropower, mining, and oil and natural gas projects in Burma. In return Imperial China has provided Burma with political support, military armaments and financial support in the form of conditions-free loans.
Burmese colony fits in neatly into Imperial China's “Two-Ocean Strategy”, under which Beijing is attempting to expand its influence to the Indian Ocean to enhance its security, such as establishment of a strategic network of road, rail and air transport and core pipelines of water, oil and gas between Yunnan Province and Kyaukpyu. An important component of the strategy is the Sino-Burmese gas and oil pipeline project from Kyaukpyu to Yunnan’s capital of Kunming will carry 80 percent of China’s imported oil from North Africa and the Middle East, as well as Burma’s natural gas from the Bay of Bengal.
To assume that China will overtake the US in 20 to 30 years, as some speculate, is to presume that the impressive Chinese economic growth of the past three decades can be maintained. Also the idea that China can be somehow become a “responsible stakeholder,” can be seen Wen Jaibao visit to Burma. His visit comes as the Junta prepares for an illegal general election sometime this year and it is to be seen whether the Chinese can influence the irregularities of the Burmese regime?
Wen Jiabao’s agenda in Burma is likely to focus on stability and national reconciliation in Burma ahead of the election to be held later in 2010. Points of discussion are expected to include the election, ethnic issues on the Sino-Burmese border and ties between Burma and North Korea. Wen Jiabao’s trip could be part of the international community’s efforts to influence the Burmese military junta. Beijing and Washington have cooperated on Burma issues in recent years, and the Chinese Premier's trip to Burma follows closely the trip by US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who visited Burma on May 9-10 and immediately Campbell visited Beijing and met with senior Chinese officials.
Although Beijing never publicly talks about Burma politics, Chinese officials have said privately that their government is disappointed in Burma’s electoral laws banning dissidents, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the 88 Generation Students group, from the election. And analysts have noted that the Junta’s electoral laws are in opposition to calls by China and other countries for an inclusive political process in Burma to promote national reconciliation.
To a greater or lesser extent, countries see the world in terms of national interest, and Imperial China is no exception but it tries to work within the existing international order, such as it is, to the extent that it suits Imperial China. But where this conflicts with Chinese interests, Beijing will look for an alternative. The recent Copenhagen climate summit China sees Western exhortations to act “responsibly” in Africa or with regard to Burma, Iran or North Korea, as cover for the West asking Imperial China to emasculate itself. Obviously rising powers do not usually allow themselves to be constrained by the norms and institutions set up by those they are trying to rival or even replace.
And amid the struggles in the West to cope with the global economic downturn, Imperial China now can portray its authoritarian state capitalist model as one to be emulated, irrespective of the implications for human rights and democracy in Imperial China and beyond. We should better ask Google, which has threatened to leave China due to censorship and alleged state hacking of its e-mail service. Every day, Chinese economic imperialism is climbing higher and higher and one of the barometers of whether Imperial China will act responsibly or not can be seen in Wen Jerboa’s trip to Burma of what will be its result.
***************************************************
MAY 28, 2010
The Wall Street Journal - The Collector: Min Wae Aung
By ALICE LLOYD GEORGE
It's a sticky Sunday afternoon in Golden Valley, one of Yangon's upscale residential districts, and Min Wae Aung is home in his studio. It's packed with artist's canvases, DVDs and books, and the 50-year-old Burmese painter stands in the middle of it all, excitedly chatting with his architect about a Styrofoam model of the 10,000-square-foot house he is building next door.
"Here will be the new gallery, for exhibitions. Here, the family-living space," says the mild-mannered Min Wae Aung, wearing a traditional, green-checked longyi (a cloth sarong) and a simple white shirt. He lifts the stacked segments of the model. "And here—underground parking," he beams.
With a solo exhibition, "Golden Heritage," in Shanghai just ended, and a similarly titled retrospective book of his works published by the Hong Kong gallery Asia Fine Art earlier this month, Min Wae Aung is riding high. Of course, he's already an established artist: His paintings hang in art galleries across the globe, and he counts more than 50 international exhibitions to date.
This may come as a surprise given Myanmar's well-known isolationist foreign policy and authoritarian rule—and indeed, a federal censorship board still imposes certain restrictions on artists, albeit inconsistently. But truth be told, many of Myanmar's artists enjoy relative freedom. And as the market for Southeast Asian art rises—along with the boom in Chinese art—so, too, does demand for Burmese art.
Min Wae Aung was born in 1960 in Danubyu, a river port city in the Irrawaddy Delta. His father hauled goods for a living. Min Wae Aung spent much of his childhood playing at a nearby monastery, a second home of sorts, where he befriended novices and helped the monks with their tasks.
Today, Min Wae Aung—one of the country's most celebrated contemporary artists—is best known for his stylized depictions of Buddhist monks in vivid, burnt-orange robes on striking gold backgrounds. Faces are rarely shown, because Min Wae Aung likes to emphasize the monks' movement, and he says their anonymity helps convey how they are "leaving humanity behind" and going to "a peaceful place, like Nirvana."
International collectors snap them up. Even Melanie Chisholm, the Spice Girls' "Sporty" owns one. In fact, foreigners make up 99% of his clients—unsurprising in a country with a cash-starved economy where there are few serious domestic buyers. Paintings in Min Wae Aung's monk series now fetch as much as $20,000. But the works are widely copied in Myanmar and hawked to tourists for just a few U.S. dollars.
Min Wae Aung lives with his wife, Than Than, and their two teenage sons in Yangon. His current residence, filled with his collection of works by celebrated Burmese artists such as Ba Kyi, Ba Yin Gyi, Ohn Lwin, Tin Hla, Ngwe Gaing and Chit Maung, is a hub of activity. That's because the five-story abode is also home to his art gallery, New Treasure Art, which hosts workshops and monthly shows of works by Burmese artists. "We invite artists that we know," he says, "who come and watch with their own eyes how the master artists work."
Weekend Journal recently spoke with the artist about his collection of Burmese artworks.
How did you start collecting?
In 1995, I held an exhibition called "Selected Masters, Past and Present" [in Yangon]. At that time I didn't have the money to collect any of those works myself, because I was still struggling financially. Some rich people bought those paintings, some to collect them, some to resell them. From that show I got the idea that I would like to collect [Burmese] old-master paintings. The first ones that I started collecting were the cheaper watercolors by the old masters.
Why do you collect these Burmese paintings?
The artists are now passed away, so I treasure them. They're the leading artists who pioneered art in Myanmar, and they're the most famous—mainly realists and impressionists. They started in the colonial period, around 1886, and around 1948 they became popular, at the time of [Myanmar's] independence. There are probably over 200 or more in my collection, mostly oils and watercolors.
Which is your favorite painting?
The one I really like is a portrait of a girl by Ngwe Gaing. It has a lot of meaning to me. The reason he painted it is interesting.
Ngwe went to the girl's house with his friends for a visit. He was talking with the girl's parents, and afterward when he tried to stand up from his chair, he was stuck.... When the girl came out from the kitchen he said, you're the reason I can't stand up. He told the girl to come over to him, and...then he was able to stand. (Ngwe Gaing then painted her portrait, which he gave to her. Min Wae Aung bought it from the girl last year.)
She is now over 60 years old. A fellow artist came and showed me a picture of the painting and said that the old lady wanted to sell it. The old lady said she had kept that painting, but now she wanted to give money to her sons. The painting is good quality, and the artist is well known, so it's valuable.
Why do you admire Ngwe Gaing?
I like him because of his art skills, and the stories are known in the art world here. When Ngwe was alive, he did a lot of religious paintings. He had a sort of sixth sense, for instance he knew if a person was good or bad, and like a fortune teller he could tell things about the future. Rich Indian, Chinese and Burmese businessmen worshipped him, and in return he told them what would happen to their stakes, and they grew richer….I not only like his painting styles, but am influenced by the way he lived. He was simple, not proud.
If you had unlimited funds and could buy anything, what would it be?
I would buy an Andrew Wyeth painting, perhaps "Christina's World," which is a painting of a girl lying in a field. That painting is very interesting. I think it's in the MoMA (New York's Museum of Modern Art). When I was in New York I saw it, in 1993.
How do you choose pieces for your collection?
When I collect, the style is not the main factor. The name of the artist and whether I like the artwork itself are most important.
What do you intend to do with your collection?
I'd like to have a private museum, and also I collect for my sons. Possibly it will be a museum for the public one day, too.
Do any paintings hang in your bedroom?
Only small paintings…they are small, realist landscapes of mine.
Do you keep any of your early works?
On the top floor of the house are some of my first paintings [such as one, which he describes, of the tattered shoes he wore in art school]. The painting reminds me of how I struggled in life, how I was poor. But I was still quite happy at that time. I liked to draw my shoes.
What's your next big purchase?
I would like to buy a camera—a Leica digital camera!
The Wall Street Journal - The Collector: Min Wae Aung
By ALICE LLOYD GEORGE
It's a sticky Sunday afternoon in Golden Valley, one of Yangon's upscale residential districts, and Min Wae Aung is home in his studio. It's packed with artist's canvases, DVDs and books, and the 50-year-old Burmese painter stands in the middle of it all, excitedly chatting with his architect about a Styrofoam model of the 10,000-square-foot house he is building next door.
"Here will be the new gallery, for exhibitions. Here, the family-living space," says the mild-mannered Min Wae Aung, wearing a traditional, green-checked longyi (a cloth sarong) and a simple white shirt. He lifts the stacked segments of the model. "And here—underground parking," he beams.
With a solo exhibition, "Golden Heritage," in Shanghai just ended, and a similarly titled retrospective book of his works published by the Hong Kong gallery Asia Fine Art earlier this month, Min Wae Aung is riding high. Of course, he's already an established artist: His paintings hang in art galleries across the globe, and he counts more than 50 international exhibitions to date.
This may come as a surprise given Myanmar's well-known isolationist foreign policy and authoritarian rule—and indeed, a federal censorship board still imposes certain restrictions on artists, albeit inconsistently. But truth be told, many of Myanmar's artists enjoy relative freedom. And as the market for Southeast Asian art rises—along with the boom in Chinese art—so, too, does demand for Burmese art.
Min Wae Aung was born in 1960 in Danubyu, a river port city in the Irrawaddy Delta. His father hauled goods for a living. Min Wae Aung spent much of his childhood playing at a nearby monastery, a second home of sorts, where he befriended novices and helped the monks with their tasks.
Today, Min Wae Aung—one of the country's most celebrated contemporary artists—is best known for his stylized depictions of Buddhist monks in vivid, burnt-orange robes on striking gold backgrounds. Faces are rarely shown, because Min Wae Aung likes to emphasize the monks' movement, and he says their anonymity helps convey how they are "leaving humanity behind" and going to "a peaceful place, like Nirvana."
International collectors snap them up. Even Melanie Chisholm, the Spice Girls' "Sporty" owns one. In fact, foreigners make up 99% of his clients—unsurprising in a country with a cash-starved economy where there are few serious domestic buyers. Paintings in Min Wae Aung's monk series now fetch as much as $20,000. But the works are widely copied in Myanmar and hawked to tourists for just a few U.S. dollars.
Min Wae Aung lives with his wife, Than Than, and their two teenage sons in Yangon. His current residence, filled with his collection of works by celebrated Burmese artists such as Ba Kyi, Ba Yin Gyi, Ohn Lwin, Tin Hla, Ngwe Gaing and Chit Maung, is a hub of activity. That's because the five-story abode is also home to his art gallery, New Treasure Art, which hosts workshops and monthly shows of works by Burmese artists. "We invite artists that we know," he says, "who come and watch with their own eyes how the master artists work."
Weekend Journal recently spoke with the artist about his collection of Burmese artworks.
How did you start collecting?
In 1995, I held an exhibition called "Selected Masters, Past and Present" [in Yangon]. At that time I didn't have the money to collect any of those works myself, because I was still struggling financially. Some rich people bought those paintings, some to collect them, some to resell them. From that show I got the idea that I would like to collect [Burmese] old-master paintings. The first ones that I started collecting were the cheaper watercolors by the old masters.
Why do you collect these Burmese paintings?
The artists are now passed away, so I treasure them. They're the leading artists who pioneered art in Myanmar, and they're the most famous—mainly realists and impressionists. They started in the colonial period, around 1886, and around 1948 they became popular, at the time of [Myanmar's] independence. There are probably over 200 or more in my collection, mostly oils and watercolors.
Which is your favorite painting?
The one I really like is a portrait of a girl by Ngwe Gaing. It has a lot of meaning to me. The reason he painted it is interesting.
Ngwe went to the girl's house with his friends for a visit. He was talking with the girl's parents, and afterward when he tried to stand up from his chair, he was stuck.... When the girl came out from the kitchen he said, you're the reason I can't stand up. He told the girl to come over to him, and...then he was able to stand. (Ngwe Gaing then painted her portrait, which he gave to her. Min Wae Aung bought it from the girl last year.)
She is now over 60 years old. A fellow artist came and showed me a picture of the painting and said that the old lady wanted to sell it. The old lady said she had kept that painting, but now she wanted to give money to her sons. The painting is good quality, and the artist is well known, so it's valuable.
Why do you admire Ngwe Gaing?
I like him because of his art skills, and the stories are known in the art world here. When Ngwe was alive, he did a lot of religious paintings. He had a sort of sixth sense, for instance he knew if a person was good or bad, and like a fortune teller he could tell things about the future. Rich Indian, Chinese and Burmese businessmen worshipped him, and in return he told them what would happen to their stakes, and they grew richer….I not only like his painting styles, but am influenced by the way he lived. He was simple, not proud.
If you had unlimited funds and could buy anything, what would it be?
I would buy an Andrew Wyeth painting, perhaps "Christina's World," which is a painting of a girl lying in a field. That painting is very interesting. I think it's in the MoMA (New York's Museum of Modern Art). When I was in New York I saw it, in 1993.
How do you choose pieces for your collection?
When I collect, the style is not the main factor. The name of the artist and whether I like the artwork itself are most important.
What do you intend to do with your collection?
I'd like to have a private museum, and also I collect for my sons. Possibly it will be a museum for the public one day, too.
Do any paintings hang in your bedroom?
Only small paintings…they are small, realist landscapes of mine.
Do you keep any of your early works?
On the top floor of the house are some of my first paintings [such as one, which he describes, of the tattered shoes he wore in art school]. The painting reminds me of how I struggled in life, how I was poor. But I was still quite happy at that time. I liked to draw my shoes.
What's your next big purchase?
I would like to buy a camera—a Leica digital camera!
***************************************************
May 27, 2010 14:54 PM
Myanmar Security Personnel Find Explosives Planted Under Rail Track
YANGON, May 27 (Bernama) -- Myanmar's security personnel have discovered some explosives planted under a rail track, which were believed meant to blow up passenger train playing the Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad.
Quoting a local daily, China's Xinhua news agency reported that the explosives, which have been deactivated by rain, were found planted between Myitkyina and Nan Kway stations on Wednesday; by the security personnel following a tip-off.
According to the report, the four packs of explosives comprising 30 blocks of TNT weighing 400 grams, 20 blocks weighting 20 grams, six detonation fuses, three circuit and twelve 1.5-volt batteries; were found placed under the joint of the rail track.
The authorities are investigating into the case, the report said, claiming that insurgents plan to sabotage and destroy rail lines and trains.
Myanmar Security Personnel Find Explosives Planted Under Rail Track
YANGON, May 27 (Bernama) -- Myanmar's security personnel have discovered some explosives planted under a rail track, which were believed meant to blow up passenger train playing the Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad.
Quoting a local daily, China's Xinhua news agency reported that the explosives, which have been deactivated by rain, were found planted between Myitkyina and Nan Kway stations on Wednesday; by the security personnel following a tip-off.
According to the report, the four packs of explosives comprising 30 blocks of TNT weighing 400 grams, 20 blocks weighting 20 grams, six detonation fuses, three circuit and twelve 1.5-volt batteries; were found placed under the joint of the rail track.
The authorities are investigating into the case, the report said, claiming that insurgents plan to sabotage and destroy rail lines and trains.
***************************************************
People's Daily Online - Goods loss in major Yangon market fire estimated at $20.92 mln
13:54, May 27, 2010
The loss of goods in a major fire at a famous market in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon Monday, is estimated at 20.926 billion Kyats (about 21 million U.S. dollars), said the state-run daily the New Light of Myanmar Thursday.
However, the damage to the wholesale market building is under estimation.
According to initial investigation by the fire department, the market administration cut off electric power when the market was closed at dusk on Sunday but a shop owner forgot to pull the plug and switch off an electric pot for boiling water. When the electric power supply resumed next morning, the electric pot got excessively hot as water dried up, triggering fire.
The fire spread through the fourth and top floor of the Mingalazay Market in Mingala Taungnyunt township, burning down 399 cosmetics shops, 398 pharmaceuticals shops and 48 food stalls, the authorities confirmed, adding that over 3,200 other shops at the first, second and third floors as well as the ground floor escaped the fire.
Four people including three fire fighters and one civilian were injured.
The authorities have filed a lawsuit against three shop owners for their negligence of fire.
13:54, May 27, 2010
The loss of goods in a major fire at a famous market in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon Monday, is estimated at 20.926 billion Kyats (about 21 million U.S. dollars), said the state-run daily the New Light of Myanmar Thursday.
However, the damage to the wholesale market building is under estimation.
According to initial investigation by the fire department, the market administration cut off electric power when the market was closed at dusk on Sunday but a shop owner forgot to pull the plug and switch off an electric pot for boiling water. When the electric power supply resumed next morning, the electric pot got excessively hot as water dried up, triggering fire.
The fire spread through the fourth and top floor of the Mingalazay Market in Mingala Taungnyunt township, burning down 399 cosmetics shops, 398 pharmaceuticals shops and 48 food stalls, the authorities confirmed, adding that over 3,200 other shops at the first, second and third floors as well as the ground floor escaped the fire.
Four people including three fire fighters and one civilian were injured.
The authorities have filed a lawsuit against three shop owners for their negligence of fire.
***************************************************
Double the happiness
By Li Yingqing and Guo Anfei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-27 13:54
Women from Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar are increasingly marrying Chinese men in Yunnan province, despite such marriages being illegal. Li Yingqing and Guo Anfei report
Li Micai met Tao Miduo four years ago while herding cattle in Tianpeng village, Funing county, Yunnan province. It was love at first sight and the two were soon married.
They are now proud parents of a 3-year-old boy, and a 1-year-old girl.
"We are both of Miao ethnicity," says Li, 19, who comes from Long Cu town of Dong Van county in Vietnam's Ha Giang province.
"It's good to have a Chinese husband," she says. "I'm respected here and never go hungry. Women don't enjoy such comforts in my village."
Back home in Vietnam, it is usually her mother who works on the farm and supports the family while her father often goes out to play mahjong or sits around smoking, she says.
Ji Meihua, 26, has been in China for three years and is currently working at a restaurant in Cangyuan Va autonomous county in Yunnan. She comes from Tangyan in Myanmar.
She met her husband He Ying at a local snack store about two years ago and they got married last April.
"We are both of Dai ethnic origin," she says. "Although I never went to school, we understand one another perfectly."
Ji, who has been working in the restaurant for the past three months, says: "I can eat here for free and earn 500 yuan ($74) a month."
She lost her parents when she was only 6 and has one brother and two sisters back in Myanmar. In fact, Ji has only gone home once in these three years - to introduce her husband to her family.
Li Micai and Ji Meihua are just two of the thousands of girls who cross the border every year from Vietnam, Laos or Myanmar to seek a new life in China's Yunnan province.
In Tianpeng village alone, home to 2,400 people in 670 households, about 100 wives are from Vietnam, Peng Youfu, the village head tells China Daily.
"The oldest of them is over 70 years old and married into the village in the 1950s," he says.
Indeed, more than 1,000 cross-border couples are currently living in Tianpeng town, according to Li Zhongxiang, deputy mayor of the town.
Media reports about the "trading" of Vietnamese girls are not totally true, Li says. Most of the money paid is for "betrothal gifts." While local customs dictate that a man's family has to pay 10,000 to 20,000 yuan ($1,465 to $2,930) to his prospective bride's family before he can marry, it will only cost 800 yuan ($117) to marry a Vietnamese girl.
He, the man from Cangyuan county, paid only 3,000 yuan ($440) to Ji's family to marry her, the Myanmar woman.
"The Vietnamese women are very industrious and hardworking," Li says. "But their status is relatively low in the family and they are the ones to feed the family instead of their husbands. That's why many Vietnamese girls like to marry a Chinese man."
Li Fengqiang, a senior officer from the Public Bureau of Cangyuan Va autonomous county, which borders Myanmar, agrees.
As residents from both sides are often from the same ethnic group, like the Va or the Dai minority, they share the same traditions, Li says.
"Except for a few victims of trafficking, most of the women from Myanmar are unwilling to return to their homeland," Li says, "Here in the county, their husbands do most of the farm work."
Jiang Zhenchuan, deputy director of the Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration under the Yunnan Provincial Department of Public Security, says: "China's development in recent decades has far outstripped that of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.
"Their current pursuit of Chinese husbands is reminiscent of Chinese women's pursuit of American husbands in the 1980s and 1990s."
However, although the number of de facto cross-border marriages is increasing by the day, the majority are not legally recognized in China.
"There are currently over 10,000 'brides' who have entered Yunnan illegally to get married," says Jiang. "Some have been sold to Yunnan, while others have come here willingly. But the exact breakdown is not immediately available."
Even though some have lived in China for many years, they do not have Chinese citizenship, and hence lack legal rights and social benefits; some even live in constant fear of being deported.
Li Micai, from Vietnam, can only do odd jobs like helping others with farming or planting in the mountainous areas since she is not entitled to an identification card without a household registration or hukou.
Applying for a Chinese citizenship is a complex process for foreigners. The relevant documents have to be vetted all the way from the county-level public security bureau to the Ministry of Public Security.
"If such couples have kids, they too will not get the hukou because of their mother's illegal status," says Peng Youfu of Tianpeng village. "Without the hukou, they are only covered for primary education."
When the Chinese policemen find these illegal "brides", they report them to the authorities on both sides before deporting them to their homeland, according to Wu Sicai, a senior official from the Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration in Yunnan.
But most sneak back at night to their family in China.
Indeed, Li Micai tells China Daily that she visits her parents - and vice versa - regularly as "there are many passes in the nearby Lion Mountain".
This is causing quite a headache for the border authorities.
"The local residents can't understand why we have to deport these 'brides', as they pose few problems," Wu says. "Also, the border is quite porous."
Qi Xiao contributed to the story.
By Li Yingqing and Guo Anfei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-27 13:54
Women from Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar are increasingly marrying Chinese men in Yunnan province, despite such marriages being illegal. Li Yingqing and Guo Anfei report
Li Micai met Tao Miduo four years ago while herding cattle in Tianpeng village, Funing county, Yunnan province. It was love at first sight and the two were soon married.
They are now proud parents of a 3-year-old boy, and a 1-year-old girl.
"We are both of Miao ethnicity," says Li, 19, who comes from Long Cu town of Dong Van county in Vietnam's Ha Giang province.
"It's good to have a Chinese husband," she says. "I'm respected here and never go hungry. Women don't enjoy such comforts in my village."
Back home in Vietnam, it is usually her mother who works on the farm and supports the family while her father often goes out to play mahjong or sits around smoking, she says.
Ji Meihua, 26, has been in China for three years and is currently working at a restaurant in Cangyuan Va autonomous county in Yunnan. She comes from Tangyan in Myanmar.
She met her husband He Ying at a local snack store about two years ago and they got married last April.
"We are both of Dai ethnic origin," she says. "Although I never went to school, we understand one another perfectly."
Ji, who has been working in the restaurant for the past three months, says: "I can eat here for free and earn 500 yuan ($74) a month."
She lost her parents when she was only 6 and has one brother and two sisters back in Myanmar. In fact, Ji has only gone home once in these three years - to introduce her husband to her family.
Li Micai and Ji Meihua are just two of the thousands of girls who cross the border every year from Vietnam, Laos or Myanmar to seek a new life in China's Yunnan province.
In Tianpeng village alone, home to 2,400 people in 670 households, about 100 wives are from Vietnam, Peng Youfu, the village head tells China Daily.
"The oldest of them is over 70 years old and married into the village in the 1950s," he says.
Indeed, more than 1,000 cross-border couples are currently living in Tianpeng town, according to Li Zhongxiang, deputy mayor of the town.
Media reports about the "trading" of Vietnamese girls are not totally true, Li says. Most of the money paid is for "betrothal gifts." While local customs dictate that a man's family has to pay 10,000 to 20,000 yuan ($1,465 to $2,930) to his prospective bride's family before he can marry, it will only cost 800 yuan ($117) to marry a Vietnamese girl.
He, the man from Cangyuan county, paid only 3,000 yuan ($440) to Ji's family to marry her, the Myanmar woman.
"The Vietnamese women are very industrious and hardworking," Li says. "But their status is relatively low in the family and they are the ones to feed the family instead of their husbands. That's why many Vietnamese girls like to marry a Chinese man."
Li Fengqiang, a senior officer from the Public Bureau of Cangyuan Va autonomous county, which borders Myanmar, agrees.
As residents from both sides are often from the same ethnic group, like the Va or the Dai minority, they share the same traditions, Li says.
"Except for a few victims of trafficking, most of the women from Myanmar are unwilling to return to their homeland," Li says, "Here in the county, their husbands do most of the farm work."
Jiang Zhenchuan, deputy director of the Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration under the Yunnan Provincial Department of Public Security, says: "China's development in recent decades has far outstripped that of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.
"Their current pursuit of Chinese husbands is reminiscent of Chinese women's pursuit of American husbands in the 1980s and 1990s."
However, although the number of de facto cross-border marriages is increasing by the day, the majority are not legally recognized in China.
"There are currently over 10,000 'brides' who have entered Yunnan illegally to get married," says Jiang. "Some have been sold to Yunnan, while others have come here willingly. But the exact breakdown is not immediately available."
Even though some have lived in China for many years, they do not have Chinese citizenship, and hence lack legal rights and social benefits; some even live in constant fear of being deported.
Li Micai, from Vietnam, can only do odd jobs like helping others with farming or planting in the mountainous areas since she is not entitled to an identification card without a household registration or hukou.
Applying for a Chinese citizenship is a complex process for foreigners. The relevant documents have to be vetted all the way from the county-level public security bureau to the Ministry of Public Security.
"If such couples have kids, they too will not get the hukou because of their mother's illegal status," says Peng Youfu of Tianpeng village. "Without the hukou, they are only covered for primary education."
When the Chinese policemen find these illegal "brides", they report them to the authorities on both sides before deporting them to their homeland, according to Wu Sicai, a senior official from the Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration in Yunnan.
But most sneak back at night to their family in China.
Indeed, Li Micai tells China Daily that she visits her parents - and vice versa - regularly as "there are many passes in the nearby Lion Mountain".
This is causing quite a headache for the border authorities.
"The local residents can't understand why we have to deport these 'brides', as they pose few problems," Wu says. "Also, the border is quite porous."
Qi Xiao contributed to the story.
***************************************************
The Irrawaddy - PM Brown's Last Letter Was to Suu Kyi
By THE IRRAWADDY - Thursday, May 27, 2010
The last letters that Britain's former prime minister, Gordon Brown, wrote from No.10 were to Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi, reported a British political magazine on Thursday.In a personal handwritten letter to Burmese opposition leader Suu Kyi, Gordon Brown wrote: “This is one of the last letters I write as Prime Minister and I want it to be to you, to champion your cause for democracy in Burma and to say I will do everything I can to support you. You are, for me, what courage is and I will fight for you to be free and your people [to be] free.”
Both South Africa's national hero, Nelson Mandela, and detained Burma's detained pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi, are "two prisoners of conscience and two people who have inspired him hugely," New Statesman magazine Web site reported, quoting a friend of the former prime minister.
Gordon Brown became Britain's prime minister on June 27, 2007, and he resigned, after an election loss to the Conservative Party, on May 11, 2010.
By THE IRRAWADDY - Thursday, May 27, 2010
The last letters that Britain's former prime minister, Gordon Brown, wrote from No.10 were to Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi, reported a British political magazine on Thursday.In a personal handwritten letter to Burmese opposition leader Suu Kyi, Gordon Brown wrote: “This is one of the last letters I write as Prime Minister and I want it to be to you, to champion your cause for democracy in Burma and to say I will do everything I can to support you. You are, for me, what courage is and I will fight for you to be free and your people [to be] free.”
Both South Africa's national hero, Nelson Mandela, and detained Burma's detained pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi, are "two prisoners of conscience and two people who have inspired him hugely," New Statesman magazine Web site reported, quoting a friend of the former prime minister.
Gordon Brown became Britain's prime minister on June 27, 2007, and he resigned, after an election loss to the Conservative Party, on May 11, 2010.
***************************************************
The Irrawaddy - A Sad Ceremony Marks a Great Victory
By KYAW THEIN KHA - Thursday, May 27, 2010
Twenty years to the day since Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in Burma's last general election, a small group of party members and friends gathered at veteran NLD leader Tin Oo's house to commemorate the democratic victory.
The NLD has held an event at the party's Rangoon headquarters for the past 19 years, but was unable to do so this year because the office has been closed since the NLD was officially dissolved on May 6.
The opposition party, strongly influenced by detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, decided not to register for this year's election, calling the military junta's election laws “unfair and unjust.”
Many of Thursday's group were youths, and they listened to speeches by NLD Chairman and former political prisoner Tin Oo, and other party leaders, including Win Tin and May Win Myint, who was elected in the 1990 election.
“The day of our victory in the election represents a victory for the people,” said Yarzar, a member of the NLD youth league who joined the ceremony at Tin Oo's house.
“However, today is still a day of sadness.”
Thursdays' gathering contrasted starkly with last year's party when thousands of members, elected representatives and students attended, and the party's headquarters was alive with songs of victory and defiance.
“At last year's ceremony, our leaders read announcements and issued party statements,” said Yarzar. “However, this year we could not even mention the word 'politics' during the ceremony.”
Despite the NLD's victory in 1990, the military regime refused to transfer power to the opposition party. Instead, the authorities arrested and detained NLD members and many were sentenced to prisons in remote parts of the country. As of May 11, there were 428 NLD members detained in Burmese prisons, according to Thailand-based human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
“Today, we handed out 5,000 kyat (US $5) to each of 36 detained members,” said May Win Myint, the leader of the women's committee within the party. “We will also visit some of their family's homes.”
NLD leaders have said that, despite its dissolution, the NLD will retain its role as a social organization, working for the welfare of the public.
Aung Kyaw Nyunt, an elected representative who attended the 20th anniversary ceremony, said, “Whether the NLD exists as a political party or not is only according to the regime's rules. Our legitimacy as a party will not be hidden by history.”
He said that the social activities of the NLD will lead to achieving the political objectives of the party.
“At today's meeting, we talked about how we'll work on our awareness rather than displaying feelings of happiness or sadness,” he added.
About 150 participants, including university students, attended the ceremony, while another group of about 30 people stood outside and made recordings and took photographs of those entering and existing the house. However, they did not disrupt the ceremony.
By KYAW THEIN KHA - Thursday, May 27, 2010
Twenty years to the day since Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in Burma's last general election, a small group of party members and friends gathered at veteran NLD leader Tin Oo's house to commemorate the democratic victory.
The NLD has held an event at the party's Rangoon headquarters for the past 19 years, but was unable to do so this year because the office has been closed since the NLD was officially dissolved on May 6.
The opposition party, strongly influenced by detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, decided not to register for this year's election, calling the military junta's election laws “unfair and unjust.”
Many of Thursday's group were youths, and they listened to speeches by NLD Chairman and former political prisoner Tin Oo, and other party leaders, including Win Tin and May Win Myint, who was elected in the 1990 election.
“The day of our victory in the election represents a victory for the people,” said Yarzar, a member of the NLD youth league who joined the ceremony at Tin Oo's house.
“However, today is still a day of sadness.”
Thursdays' gathering contrasted starkly with last year's party when thousands of members, elected representatives and students attended, and the party's headquarters was alive with songs of victory and defiance.
“At last year's ceremony, our leaders read announcements and issued party statements,” said Yarzar. “However, this year we could not even mention the word 'politics' during the ceremony.”
Despite the NLD's victory in 1990, the military regime refused to transfer power to the opposition party. Instead, the authorities arrested and detained NLD members and many were sentenced to prisons in remote parts of the country. As of May 11, there were 428 NLD members detained in Burmese prisons, according to Thailand-based human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
“Today, we handed out 5,000 kyat (US $5) to each of 36 detained members,” said May Win Myint, the leader of the women's committee within the party. “We will also visit some of their family's homes.”
NLD leaders have said that, despite its dissolution, the NLD will retain its role as a social organization, working for the welfare of the public.
Aung Kyaw Nyunt, an elected representative who attended the 20th anniversary ceremony, said, “Whether the NLD exists as a political party or not is only according to the regime's rules. Our legitimacy as a party will not be hidden by history.”
He said that the social activities of the NLD will lead to achieving the political objectives of the party.
“At today's meeting, we talked about how we'll work on our awareness rather than displaying feelings of happiness or sadness,” he added.
About 150 participants, including university students, attended the ceremony, while another group of about 30 people stood outside and made recordings and took photographs of those entering and existing the house. However, they did not disrupt the ceremony.
***************************************************
Transocean drilled in Burmese waters linked to drug lord
Thursday, 27 May 2010 19:49 Thomas Maung Shwe
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Swiss-American firm Transocean, presently embroiled in the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster, did exploratory drilling last autumn in Burmese waters owned by a partnership between a Chinese state-run energy company and a firm owned by Stephen Law, a junta crony alleged by the US to be a major drug-money launderer, according to corporate filings with the US stock market regulator.
Stephen Law, (a.k.a. Tun Myint Naing), his Singaporean wife and his “narco warlord” father are on the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) blacklist, officially called the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. All three are also on a similar European travel ban and sanctions lists.
The SDN blacklist targets the Burmese junta’s senior leadership, its cronies and the financial networks that continue to support the military dictatorship. The US Treasury website states that when an individual, firm or other entity is added to the sanctions list “any assets the designees may have subject to US jurisdiction are frozen, and all financial and commercial transactions by any US person with the designated companies and individuals are prohibited”.
Transocean International’s corporate 8-K filing to the US Securities and Exchance Commission on November 2 last year shows that Chinese state-run energy company CNOOC hired Transocean’s semi-submersible Actinia, a Panamanian registered drilling rig, to operate in Burma from last October to December. An 8-K form is the “current report” companies must file with the US market regulator to announce major events that shareholders should know about. The 82-metre-long, 78-metre-wide rig was hired at a daily rate of US$206,000. Transocean could not be reached for comment.
According to the CNOOC website, all of the firm’s stakes in Burma’s gas industry are held in partnership with China Focus Development (formerly known as Golden Aaron) and China Global Construction, with CNOOC as the operator. China Focus Development is a privately owned Singapore-registered firm whose sole shareholders are Stephen Law and his wife Ng Sor Hong (a.k.a. Cynthia Ng). The US and EU sanctions list show Ng Sor Hong to be chief executive of the firm, which is also among more than a dozen companies controlled by Law on the OFAC blacklist of banned Burma-related entities.
Industry journal International Oil Daily reported last February that the CNOOC-China Focus Development partnership held onshore blocks C-1, C-2 and M and offshore blocks A-4, M-2 and M-10. It also said CNOOC’s attempt in 2008 to swap its stake in two of its blocks with the Thai national oil firm PTEEP was vetoed by the Burmese regime.
Law’s Sino-Burmese father Lao Sit Han (a.k.a. Lo Hsing Han) is believed by US drug-trafficking analysts to have controlled Southeast Asia’s best-armed narcotics militias during the 1970’s.
According to the US Treasury in February, 2008: “In addition to their support for the Burmese regime, Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han have a history of involvement in illicit activities.”
“Lo Hsing Han, known as the ‘Godfather of Heroin’, has been one of the world’s key heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s. Steven Law joined his father’s drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the wealthiest individuals in Burma,” the Treasury statement said.
Calls for a US government investigation
In an interview with Mizzima, Wong Aung of the Shwe Gas movement called on the US government to immediately probe the links between Transocean and Stephen Law.
“Transocean’s drilling for Stephen Law’s natural gas consortium appears to be a serious breach of American sanctions on Burma,” he said. “The US government must investigate Transocean’s Burmese operations as soon as possible and send a clear message that it is not acceptable for multinational firms such as Transocean to do business with Burma’s most notorious narco-oligarch.”
Last month Transocean was involved in what has been described as one of the worst environmental disasters in US history. On April 20, 2010, Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico while it was drilling under contract for oil giant BP. The explosion killed 11 workers.
Early this month at a special US congressional hearing convened to investigate the disaster, senior executives from BP, Transocean and contractor Halliburton all testified the other firms were responsible for the blast and subsequent unprecedented oil spill.
Following the hearing, a furious US President Barack Obama chided the executives for their refusal to accept responsibility saying, “I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle”. He added that the millionaire executives were “falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people could not have been impressed with that display and I certainly wasn’t”.
Thursday, 27 May 2010 19:49 Thomas Maung Shwe
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Swiss-American firm Transocean, presently embroiled in the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster, did exploratory drilling last autumn in Burmese waters owned by a partnership between a Chinese state-run energy company and a firm owned by Stephen Law, a junta crony alleged by the US to be a major drug-money launderer, according to corporate filings with the US stock market regulator.
Stephen Law, (a.k.a. Tun Myint Naing), his Singaporean wife and his “narco warlord” father are on the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) blacklist, officially called the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. All three are also on a similar European travel ban and sanctions lists.
The SDN blacklist targets the Burmese junta’s senior leadership, its cronies and the financial networks that continue to support the military dictatorship. The US Treasury website states that when an individual, firm or other entity is added to the sanctions list “any assets the designees may have subject to US jurisdiction are frozen, and all financial and commercial transactions by any US person with the designated companies and individuals are prohibited”.
Transocean International’s corporate 8-K filing to the US Securities and Exchance Commission on November 2 last year shows that Chinese state-run energy company CNOOC hired Transocean’s semi-submersible Actinia, a Panamanian registered drilling rig, to operate in Burma from last October to December. An 8-K form is the “current report” companies must file with the US market regulator to announce major events that shareholders should know about. The 82-metre-long, 78-metre-wide rig was hired at a daily rate of US$206,000. Transocean could not be reached for comment.
According to the CNOOC website, all of the firm’s stakes in Burma’s gas industry are held in partnership with China Focus Development (formerly known as Golden Aaron) and China Global Construction, with CNOOC as the operator. China Focus Development is a privately owned Singapore-registered firm whose sole shareholders are Stephen Law and his wife Ng Sor Hong (a.k.a. Cynthia Ng). The US and EU sanctions list show Ng Sor Hong to be chief executive of the firm, which is also among more than a dozen companies controlled by Law on the OFAC blacklist of banned Burma-related entities.
Industry journal International Oil Daily reported last February that the CNOOC-China Focus Development partnership held onshore blocks C-1, C-2 and M and offshore blocks A-4, M-2 and M-10. It also said CNOOC’s attempt in 2008 to swap its stake in two of its blocks with the Thai national oil firm PTEEP was vetoed by the Burmese regime.
Law’s Sino-Burmese father Lao Sit Han (a.k.a. Lo Hsing Han) is believed by US drug-trafficking analysts to have controlled Southeast Asia’s best-armed narcotics militias during the 1970’s.
According to the US Treasury in February, 2008: “In addition to their support for the Burmese regime, Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han have a history of involvement in illicit activities.”
“Lo Hsing Han, known as the ‘Godfather of Heroin’, has been one of the world’s key heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s. Steven Law joined his father’s drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the wealthiest individuals in Burma,” the Treasury statement said.
Calls for a US government investigation
In an interview with Mizzima, Wong Aung of the Shwe Gas movement called on the US government to immediately probe the links between Transocean and Stephen Law.
“Transocean’s drilling for Stephen Law’s natural gas consortium appears to be a serious breach of American sanctions on Burma,” he said. “The US government must investigate Transocean’s Burmese operations as soon as possible and send a clear message that it is not acceptable for multinational firms such as Transocean to do business with Burma’s most notorious narco-oligarch.”
Last month Transocean was involved in what has been described as one of the worst environmental disasters in US history. On April 20, 2010, Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico while it was drilling under contract for oil giant BP. The explosion killed 11 workers.
Early this month at a special US congressional hearing convened to investigate the disaster, senior executives from BP, Transocean and contractor Halliburton all testified the other firms were responsible for the blast and subsequent unprecedented oil spill.
Following the hearing, a furious US President Barack Obama chided the executives for their refusal to accept responsibility saying, “I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle”. He added that the millionaire executives were “falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people could not have been impressed with that display and I certainly wasn’t”.
***************************************************
DVB News - ‘Blackmailer’ arrested in central Burma
By AYE NAI
Published: 27 May 2010
A blackmailer who threatened to blow up a supermarket in Magwe if a 50 million Kyat ($US50,000) ransom demand is not paid, has been arrested on May 22, according to local residents.
Thein Kyaw, 30, a resident of Magwe division’s Taungdwingyi, allegedly blackmailed businessman Sein Htay on mobile phone. Sein Htay owns multiple businesses in Magwe including Kaung Mon Supermarket, a hospital and a drinking water business.
Thein Kyaw allegedly told Sein Htay during the ransom call made on May 21 that he needs money to fight the government and would blow up the supermarket if he didn’t get 50 million Kyat by the evening or if the latter talked to the authorities.
Sein Htay reported it to the police and when he was called again, the police listened in on the call and followed him to the ransom point near a lake.
A source who listened to the police’s audio recording of the phone conversation said Thein Kyaw told Sein Htay to leave his house with the money by 7:30 and follow his direction.
First, he told him to go to the Teacher Training Centre on Than Lwin Road and then to call him back. Then he instructed him to walk over to the lake, find the bike in an alley in front of the lake’s bank and then to hang the bag of money there.”
Thein Kyaw was confronted by the police as he came to collect the money but managed to escape the scene. He was arrested in Taungdwingyi the following day, said a local resident.
“[The dropping point] was completely surrounded by the police and no one had an idea how he managed to escape from them. But the police traced his mobile phone number and found him here.”
Thein Kyaw reportedly claimed that he is a member of a political organisation with success in every bombing planned in the past, and that his agents planted three bombs in the supermarket.
By AYE NAI
Published: 27 May 2010
A blackmailer who threatened to blow up a supermarket in Magwe if a 50 million Kyat ($US50,000) ransom demand is not paid, has been arrested on May 22, according to local residents.
Thein Kyaw, 30, a resident of Magwe division’s Taungdwingyi, allegedly blackmailed businessman Sein Htay on mobile phone. Sein Htay owns multiple businesses in Magwe including Kaung Mon Supermarket, a hospital and a drinking water business.
Thein Kyaw allegedly told Sein Htay during the ransom call made on May 21 that he needs money to fight the government and would blow up the supermarket if he didn’t get 50 million Kyat by the evening or if the latter talked to the authorities.
Sein Htay reported it to the police and when he was called again, the police listened in on the call and followed him to the ransom point near a lake.
A source who listened to the police’s audio recording of the phone conversation said Thein Kyaw told Sein Htay to leave his house with the money by 7:30 and follow his direction.
First, he told him to go to the Teacher Training Centre on Than Lwin Road and then to call him back. Then he instructed him to walk over to the lake, find the bike in an alley in front of the lake’s bank and then to hang the bag of money there.”
Thein Kyaw was confronted by the police as he came to collect the money but managed to escape the scene. He was arrested in Taungdwingyi the following day, said a local resident.
“[The dropping point] was completely surrounded by the police and no one had an idea how he managed to escape from them. But the police traced his mobile phone number and found him here.”
Thein Kyaw reportedly claimed that he is a member of a political organisation with success in every bombing planned in the past, and that his agents planted three bombs in the supermarket.
No comments:
Post a Comment