Top US Senator pushes Myanmar sanctions
1 hr 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States must renew tough sanctions against Myanmar to punish the military regime there for failing to make "real progress" on democratic reforms, a top US senator said Wednesday.
"Sanctions should remain in place because lifting sanctions would give the regime precisely what it wants; namely, legitimacy," Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said as he introduced an annual sanctions bill.
The measure, expected to pass easily, includes a ban on importing Myanmar goods, a freeze on US assets held by junta leaders, US opposition to multilateral lending organizations helping Myanmar, and a ban on junta leaders travelling to the United States.
McConnell pointed to two decades of US and UN attempts to engage Myanmar's military rulers in a bid to foster democratic openness, and underscored that "none of these efforts has yielded anything in the way of reform."
"The absence of any tangible result from engagement has nothing to do with work of American diplomats. It has everything to do with the type of regime we're dealing with in Burma. But again, the fact remains that no progress has been made," said the senator, who represents the state of Kentucky.
His comments came one day after US officials said a senior US diplomat was considering a visit to Myanmar this month amid mounting Western concerns over the military regime's plans for upcoming elections.
The diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell, is planning to return to Asia for a regional meeting next week in the Philippines along with other stops, US officials said on condition of anonymity.
The United States has voiced concern about Myanmar's plans to hold its first elections in two decades later this year, which the opposition is boycotting as it fears they will be a sham by the junta to gain legitimacy.
The opposition National League for Democracy swept the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over. The junta has kept the party's leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for more than 14 years.
1 hr 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States must renew tough sanctions against Myanmar to punish the military regime there for failing to make "real progress" on democratic reforms, a top US senator said Wednesday.
"Sanctions should remain in place because lifting sanctions would give the regime precisely what it wants; namely, legitimacy," Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said as he introduced an annual sanctions bill.
The measure, expected to pass easily, includes a ban on importing Myanmar goods, a freeze on US assets held by junta leaders, US opposition to multilateral lending organizations helping Myanmar, and a ban on junta leaders travelling to the United States.
McConnell pointed to two decades of US and UN attempts to engage Myanmar's military rulers in a bid to foster democratic openness, and underscored that "none of these efforts has yielded anything in the way of reform."
"The absence of any tangible result from engagement has nothing to do with work of American diplomats. It has everything to do with the type of regime we're dealing with in Burma. But again, the fact remains that no progress has been made," said the senator, who represents the state of Kentucky.
His comments came one day after US officials said a senior US diplomat was considering a visit to Myanmar this month amid mounting Western concerns over the military regime's plans for upcoming elections.
The diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell, is planning to return to Asia for a regional meeting next week in the Philippines along with other stops, US officials said on condition of anonymity.
The United States has voiced concern about Myanmar's plans to hold its first elections in two decades later this year, which the opposition is boycotting as it fears they will be a sham by the junta to gain legitimacy.
The opposition National League for Democracy swept the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over. The junta has kept the party's leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for more than 14 years.
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US envoy looks at Myanmar trip: officials
Tue May 4, 7:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior US diplomat is considering a visit to Myanmar this month, officials said Tuesday, as Western concerns mount over the military regime's plans for upcoming elections.
Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, is planning to return to Asia for a regional meeting next week in the Philippines along with other stops, US officials said on condition of anonymity.
A trip to Myanmar is being "contemplated" but has not yet been set, one official said, with the State Department in talks with the junta to arrange a visit.
Campbell traveled to Myanmar last year as he launched a new policy of US engagement with the country, also known as Burma.
President Barack Obama's administration has made dialogue with adversaries a signature policy and launched dialogue with Myanmar after concluding that longstanding Western attempts to isolate the regime had borne little fruit.
But the United States has voiced concern about Myanmar's plans to hold its first elections in two decades later this year, which the opposition is boycotting as it fears they will be a sham by the junta to gain legitimacy.
The opposition National League for Democracy swept the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over. The junta has kept the party's leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for more than 14 years.
Former political prisoner Aung Din, who heads the US Campaign for Burma advocacy group, voiced concern that a trip by Campbell could embolden the regime's leader, Senior General Than Shwe.
"Kurt Campbell is coming empty-handed. I want him to go back to Burma with more and more pressure," Aung Din said.
"Otherwise this will make Than Shwe happy. He rejected all of the US demands and yet the United States is still willing to engage with him," he said.
In the run-up to the election, Prime Minister General Thein Sein and some 22 other ministers retired from their military posts in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian status ahead of elections due this year.
State media reported that Thein Sein also applied to form a new political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley responded cautiously, saying: "It may be seen as a possible positive step, but we'll be guided by the actions that Burma takes."
"What Burma needs to do is to open up real, genuine political space, not just for ex-generals, but also for all people who want to participate constructively in Burmese society," Crowley said.
"If these individuals transforming themselves from generals to civilians can open up that space, then that we would truly see as a positive step," he said.
Tue May 4, 7:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior US diplomat is considering a visit to Myanmar this month, officials said Tuesday, as Western concerns mount over the military regime's plans for upcoming elections.
Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, is planning to return to Asia for a regional meeting next week in the Philippines along with other stops, US officials said on condition of anonymity.
A trip to Myanmar is being "contemplated" but has not yet been set, one official said, with the State Department in talks with the junta to arrange a visit.
Campbell traveled to Myanmar last year as he launched a new policy of US engagement with the country, also known as Burma.
President Barack Obama's administration has made dialogue with adversaries a signature policy and launched dialogue with Myanmar after concluding that longstanding Western attempts to isolate the regime had borne little fruit.
But the United States has voiced concern about Myanmar's plans to hold its first elections in two decades later this year, which the opposition is boycotting as it fears they will be a sham by the junta to gain legitimacy.
The opposition National League for Democracy swept the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take over. The junta has kept the party's leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for more than 14 years.
Former political prisoner Aung Din, who heads the US Campaign for Burma advocacy group, voiced concern that a trip by Campbell could embolden the regime's leader, Senior General Than Shwe.
"Kurt Campbell is coming empty-handed. I want him to go back to Burma with more and more pressure," Aung Din said.
"Otherwise this will make Than Shwe happy. He rejected all of the US demands and yet the United States is still willing to engage with him," he said.
In the run-up to the election, Prime Minister General Thein Sein and some 22 other ministers retired from their military posts in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian status ahead of elections due this year.
State media reported that Thein Sein also applied to form a new political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley responded cautiously, saying: "It may be seen as a possible positive step, but we'll be guided by the actions that Burma takes."
"What Burma needs to do is to open up real, genuine political space, not just for ex-generals, but also for all people who want to participate constructively in Burmese society," Crowley said.
"If these individuals transforming themselves from generals to civilians can open up that space, then that we would truly see as a positive step," he said.
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US reacts cautiously to Myanmar political changes
Tue May 4, 4:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States reacted cautiously Tuesday after Myanmar Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, and 22 other ministers last week retired from their military posts and the premier created a new party.
"It may be seen as a possible positive step, but we'll be guided by the actions that Burma takes," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, referring to the southeast Asian nation's former name.
President Barack Obama's administration, which has begun engaging diplomatically with Myanmar, said it will judge the regime on "whether it opens up," whether or not the resignations amount to "wolves changing to sheep's clothing."
On April 26, General Thein Sein and some 22 other ministers retired from their military posts in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian status ahead of elections due this year.
Four days after the announcements, state media reported that Thein Sein applied to form a new political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
"What Burma needs to do is to open up real, genuine political space, not just for ex-generals, but also for all people who want to participate constructively in Burmese society," Crowley said.
"That's what they need to do, and that's what they have been reluctant to do," he added.
Crowley recalled US criticism of a new election law which he said fell short of international standards.
Under new election laws unveiled March 10, Myanmar opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi faced exclusion from her own party and was barred from standing in the polls along with other political prisoners.
"Burma has to open up political space. It has to have a meaningful dialogue with, you know, all of its ethnic groups within Burma," Crowley said.
"If these individuals transforming themselves from generals to civilians can open up that space, then that we would truly see as a positive step," he said.
Tue May 4, 4:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States reacted cautiously Tuesday after Myanmar Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, and 22 other ministers last week retired from their military posts and the premier created a new party.
"It may be seen as a possible positive step, but we'll be guided by the actions that Burma takes," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, referring to the southeast Asian nation's former name.
President Barack Obama's administration, which has begun engaging diplomatically with Myanmar, said it will judge the regime on "whether it opens up," whether or not the resignations amount to "wolves changing to sheep's clothing."
On April 26, General Thein Sein and some 22 other ministers retired from their military posts in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian status ahead of elections due this year.
Four days after the announcements, state media reported that Thein Sein applied to form a new political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
"What Burma needs to do is to open up real, genuine political space, not just for ex-generals, but also for all people who want to participate constructively in Burmese society," Crowley said.
"That's what they need to do, and that's what they have been reluctant to do," he added.
Crowley recalled US criticism of a new election law which he said fell short of international standards.
Under new election laws unveiled March 10, Myanmar opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi faced exclusion from her own party and was barred from standing in the polls along with other political prisoners.
"Burma has to open up political space. It has to have a meaningful dialogue with, you know, all of its ethnic groups within Burma," Crowley said.
"If these individuals transforming themselves from generals to civilians can open up that space, then that we would truly see as a positive step," he said.
*******************************************************
Myanmar cyclone victims struggle two years on
by Hla Hla Htay – Mon May 3, 11:54 pm ET
THA KYAR HIN O, Myanmar (AFP) – San Tin says she is haunted by memories of the deadly storm that devastated her Myanmar village two years ago, but fears that she may go thirsty unless more rain falls.
Many survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which left 138,000 people dead or missing and laid waste to swathes of military-ruled Myanmar, are still facing water and food shortages and struggling to rebuild their lives.
"We don't want any wind and rain as we are afraid," said San Tin, a 62-year-old widow. "But on the other hand, we need rain because then we don't have to worry about drinking water," she told AFP.
"I wish both my old mother and I would die if another cyclone comes. I don't want to die alone because I have to worry about this old lady," she added.
Cyclone Nargis unleashed winds of 240 kilometres (150 miles) an hour and storm surges up to four metres (13 feet) high, sweeping away thousands of homes, flooding rice fields with salt water and ravaging schools and hospitals.
Myanmar's military government faced international criticism for its response to the disaster of May 2008, accused of blocking emergency aid and initially refusing to grant access to humanitarian workers and supplies.
Life remains tough in the villages of the Pyapon district in the Irrawaddy Delta, where people rely on lakes and the skies for water, but lost many of their pots to collect it in during the cyclone.
"It's difficult to find a job here," said Tin Lin Khaing, a 35-year-old fisherman from Shwe Magyikan village who, like many survivors, is living in a temporary shelter built using bamboo and a thatched roof.
"We did not get any assistance for the past year. How can we return to our normal life? We have nothing and even now we have no idea what we should do for drinking water. Now the lake water is shrinking because of hot weather."
The United Nations said Friday that 100,000 vulnerable families in Myanmar still needed to rebuild their homes and 180,000 people faced acute water shortages following the cyclone, which severely affected 2.4 million people.
"Significant gaps threaten to slow down or even halt longer-term recovery efforts. Our work is far from done and the people still need help," said Bishow Parajuli, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Yangon.
Steady work in the cyclone-devastated area is hard to find.
"My husband and my eldest son work as day labourers or fishermen. They have no stable job," said Htay Win, a 41-year-old housewife whose five-year-old son was killed in Cyclone Nargis.
"We did not get any assistance for a long time. Last time they give us a bean seed to cultivate. Although I was careful it dried up and died. We cannot cultivate anything here because of the sea water," she said.
The area was known as the country's rice bowl before the disaster struck. Now the price of the lowest grade rice is double its level before the cyclone.
And another monsoon season is looming, posing "a serious threat" to the recovery of survivors, with shelter still urgently needed and agriculture at risk, the international aid agency Oxfam has warned.
It said that only about a quarter of the estimated financial aid needed between 2009 and 2011 had been secured.
"The aid successes of helping rebuilding lives are at risk if people cannot secure their homes. Money is also needed for providing drinkable water and improving sanitation and livelihood," Oxfam said in a statement.
People from in and around Tha Kyar Hin O village gathered at a monastery to mark the second anniversary of Cyclone Nargis with a Shinpyu religious ceremony to initiate their sons into the Buddhist order, thanks to outside donations.
For Thi San, whose youngest son donned the red-brown robe of a Buddhist novice, it was a chance to fulfill the wishes of her 13-year-old daughter who was killed in the disaster.
"We wanted to hold Shinpyu by ourselves. But how can we afford that as we have to try to live?" she said with tears in her eyes.
"I don't want to rely on other people's donations for this kind of ceremony. But we cannot hope to regain our previous living standards as we lost everything in the cyclone."
by Hla Hla Htay – Mon May 3, 11:54 pm ET
THA KYAR HIN O, Myanmar (AFP) – San Tin says she is haunted by memories of the deadly storm that devastated her Myanmar village two years ago, but fears that she may go thirsty unless more rain falls.
Many survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which left 138,000 people dead or missing and laid waste to swathes of military-ruled Myanmar, are still facing water and food shortages and struggling to rebuild their lives.
"We don't want any wind and rain as we are afraid," said San Tin, a 62-year-old widow. "But on the other hand, we need rain because then we don't have to worry about drinking water," she told AFP.
"I wish both my old mother and I would die if another cyclone comes. I don't want to die alone because I have to worry about this old lady," she added.
Cyclone Nargis unleashed winds of 240 kilometres (150 miles) an hour and storm surges up to four metres (13 feet) high, sweeping away thousands of homes, flooding rice fields with salt water and ravaging schools and hospitals.
Myanmar's military government faced international criticism for its response to the disaster of May 2008, accused of blocking emergency aid and initially refusing to grant access to humanitarian workers and supplies.
Life remains tough in the villages of the Pyapon district in the Irrawaddy Delta, where people rely on lakes and the skies for water, but lost many of their pots to collect it in during the cyclone.
"It's difficult to find a job here," said Tin Lin Khaing, a 35-year-old fisherman from Shwe Magyikan village who, like many survivors, is living in a temporary shelter built using bamboo and a thatched roof.
"We did not get any assistance for the past year. How can we return to our normal life? We have nothing and even now we have no idea what we should do for drinking water. Now the lake water is shrinking because of hot weather."
The United Nations said Friday that 100,000 vulnerable families in Myanmar still needed to rebuild their homes and 180,000 people faced acute water shortages following the cyclone, which severely affected 2.4 million people.
"Significant gaps threaten to slow down or even halt longer-term recovery efforts. Our work is far from done and the people still need help," said Bishow Parajuli, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Yangon.
Steady work in the cyclone-devastated area is hard to find.
"My husband and my eldest son work as day labourers or fishermen. They have no stable job," said Htay Win, a 41-year-old housewife whose five-year-old son was killed in Cyclone Nargis.
"We did not get any assistance for a long time. Last time they give us a bean seed to cultivate. Although I was careful it dried up and died. We cannot cultivate anything here because of the sea water," she said.
The area was known as the country's rice bowl before the disaster struck. Now the price of the lowest grade rice is double its level before the cyclone.
And another monsoon season is looming, posing "a serious threat" to the recovery of survivors, with shelter still urgently needed and agriculture at risk, the international aid agency Oxfam has warned.
It said that only about a quarter of the estimated financial aid needed between 2009 and 2011 had been secured.
"The aid successes of helping rebuilding lives are at risk if people cannot secure their homes. Money is also needed for providing drinkable water and improving sanitation and livelihood," Oxfam said in a statement.
People from in and around Tha Kyar Hin O village gathered at a monastery to mark the second anniversary of Cyclone Nargis with a Shinpyu religious ceremony to initiate their sons into the Buddhist order, thanks to outside donations.
For Thi San, whose youngest son donned the red-brown robe of a Buddhist novice, it was a chance to fulfill the wishes of her 13-year-old daughter who was killed in the disaster.
"We wanted to hold Shinpyu by ourselves. But how can we afford that as we have to try to live?" she said with tears in her eyes.
"I don't want to rely on other people's donations for this kind of ceremony. But we cannot hope to regain our previous living standards as we lost everything in the cyclone."
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Myanmar opposition holds last event as legal party
2 hrs 24 mins ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – The party of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, founded more than 20 years ago to challenge military rule in Myanmar, held a final gathering Wednesday at its headquarters before its forced dissolution.
The National League for Democracy, which won a 1990 election but was denied power by the army, held an early celebration of Suu Kyi's June 19 birthday, an occasion on which it gives children of political prisoners financial aid for their education.
The League declined to reregister as a party this year, which new election laws required to contest an election supposed to be held sometime later this year. The League says the laws are undemocratic and unfair, and its non-registration is tantamount to an election boycott.
At the party's central office in Yangon, desks were being cleared, paper files tied up and locked away in cupboards and party property was inventoried. Under the law, the party becomes "null and void," at midnight Thursday.
However, Suu Kyi has instructed her party not to take down the party signboard or party flag featuring the "fighting peacock" after the deadline. She told her party members through the party spokesman that "she will never turn her back to the people or her struggle for democracy."
It is not clear what action authorities could take against such activity. The junta is intolerant of dissent, and has long repressed its opponents. According to the U.N. and human rights groups, there are more than 2,000 political prisoners nationwide.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's highest court rejected an application by Suu Kyi to annul some articles of the party registration law. Her filing in High Court last week challenged rules that included a bar on a convicted person being a member of a political party.
Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years, was convicted last year of illegally harboring a visitor, an eccentric American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.
The court also rejected an application to have seated the parliament elected in 1990.
About 150 members of the National League for Democracy gathered at their dilapidated two-story headquarters near the foot of Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda for Suu Kyi's 65th birthday celebration. Several foreign diplomats also attended.
"We cannot hold Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday at the party headquarters on June 19 though we will hold a religious ceremony at one of the member's house on Daw Suu's birthday," said Dr. May Win Myint, an elected candidate in 1990 and a senior party member. 'Daw' is a term of respect for older women.
"We are wrapping up our party work at the headquarters but we will carry out our political activities in any possible manner and continue with other social welfare projects," she said.
Party spokesman Nyan Win said the party "may cease to exist under the law" but will continue to carry out social activities while party members will individually engage in political activities.
"We will survive as long as we have public support," Nyan Win said.
The new election laws in fact allowed the League's branch offices to reopen earlier this year, some seven years after they were shut by the government, which was anxious to demonstrate it was allowing the resumption of political activity ahead of the planned polls.
It remained unclear whether the branch offices would be permitted to stay open in some capacity after the party's headquarters closes.
2 hrs 24 mins ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – The party of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, founded more than 20 years ago to challenge military rule in Myanmar, held a final gathering Wednesday at its headquarters before its forced dissolution.
The National League for Democracy, which won a 1990 election but was denied power by the army, held an early celebration of Suu Kyi's June 19 birthday, an occasion on which it gives children of political prisoners financial aid for their education.
The League declined to reregister as a party this year, which new election laws required to contest an election supposed to be held sometime later this year. The League says the laws are undemocratic and unfair, and its non-registration is tantamount to an election boycott.
At the party's central office in Yangon, desks were being cleared, paper files tied up and locked away in cupboards and party property was inventoried. Under the law, the party becomes "null and void," at midnight Thursday.
However, Suu Kyi has instructed her party not to take down the party signboard or party flag featuring the "fighting peacock" after the deadline. She told her party members through the party spokesman that "she will never turn her back to the people or her struggle for democracy."
It is not clear what action authorities could take against such activity. The junta is intolerant of dissent, and has long repressed its opponents. According to the U.N. and human rights groups, there are more than 2,000 political prisoners nationwide.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's highest court rejected an application by Suu Kyi to annul some articles of the party registration law. Her filing in High Court last week challenged rules that included a bar on a convicted person being a member of a political party.
Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years, was convicted last year of illegally harboring a visitor, an eccentric American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home.
The court also rejected an application to have seated the parliament elected in 1990.
About 150 members of the National League for Democracy gathered at their dilapidated two-story headquarters near the foot of Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda for Suu Kyi's 65th birthday celebration. Several foreign diplomats also attended.
"We cannot hold Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday at the party headquarters on June 19 though we will hold a religious ceremony at one of the member's house on Daw Suu's birthday," said Dr. May Win Myint, an elected candidate in 1990 and a senior party member. 'Daw' is a term of respect for older women.
"We are wrapping up our party work at the headquarters but we will carry out our political activities in any possible manner and continue with other social welfare projects," she said.
Party spokesman Nyan Win said the party "may cease to exist under the law" but will continue to carry out social activities while party members will individually engage in political activities.
"We will survive as long as we have public support," Nyan Win said.
The new election laws in fact allowed the League's branch offices to reopen earlier this year, some seven years after they were shut by the government, which was anxious to demonstrate it was allowing the resumption of political activity ahead of the planned polls.
It remained unclear whether the branch offices would be permitted to stay open in some capacity after the party's headquarters closes.
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Landslides kills 15 near China-Myanmar border
AP - Thursday, May 6
BEIJING (AP) – A state news agency says that the death toll from a landslide that occurred earlier this week at a mine near the China-Myanmar border has risen to 15 people.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday that 15 Chinese nationals were killed by the landslide about 2 miles (about 3 kilometers) over the border inside Myanmar and that five people remained hospitalized in stable condition.
It said more than 140 rescue workers were sent from China to the scene after landslide occurred Monday. It is common for Chinese workers to go across the border to seek work in mines or as traders.
AP - Thursday, May 6
BEIJING (AP) – A state news agency says that the death toll from a landslide that occurred earlier this week at a mine near the China-Myanmar border has risen to 15 people.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday that 15 Chinese nationals were killed by the landslide about 2 miles (about 3 kilometers) over the border inside Myanmar and that five people remained hospitalized in stable condition.
It said more than 140 rescue workers were sent from China to the scene after landslide occurred Monday. It is common for Chinese workers to go across the border to seek work in mines or as traders.
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Chinese rescuers in Myanmar after mine accident
Tue May 4, 9:17 pm ET
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese rescue workers entered Myanmar to recover the bodies of Chinese miners killed by a landslide at a mine near the border, the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
At least 13 Chinese miners were killed in the Monday afternoon landslide at the mine, about 3 km (1.8mile) inside Myanmar, Xinhua said. Five others were brought to a hospital in Tengchong, a town in China's Yunnan Province, while two others are still missing.
China is resource-rich Myanmar's main ally, and Chinese itinerant businessmen dominate its minerals and timber trade, especially near the border.
More than 140 rescue personnel with rescue machinery had entered Myanmar to search for the missing miners, Xinhua said, citing a spokesman with the Communist Party Committee of Tengchong county.
Beijing is taking an increasing interest in the stability of Myanmar, where it is building oil and gas pipelines to allow it to diversify energy transport for its booming economy.
Much of the border region is controlled by semi-autonomous ethnic militias, rather than the Myanmar central government. Tensions have escalated after many years of relative calm after the Myanmar army overran one such state, Kokang, sending refugees spilling across the border into Yunnan Province.
Tue May 4, 9:17 pm ET
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese rescue workers entered Myanmar to recover the bodies of Chinese miners killed by a landslide at a mine near the border, the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
At least 13 Chinese miners were killed in the Monday afternoon landslide at the mine, about 3 km (1.8mile) inside Myanmar, Xinhua said. Five others were brought to a hospital in Tengchong, a town in China's Yunnan Province, while two others are still missing.
China is resource-rich Myanmar's main ally, and Chinese itinerant businessmen dominate its minerals and timber trade, especially near the border.
More than 140 rescue personnel with rescue machinery had entered Myanmar to search for the missing miners, Xinhua said, citing a spokesman with the Communist Party Committee of Tengchong county.
Beijing is taking an increasing interest in the stability of Myanmar, where it is building oil and gas pipelines to allow it to diversify energy transport for its booming economy.
Much of the border region is controlled by semi-autonomous ethnic militias, rather than the Myanmar central government. Tensions have escalated after many years of relative calm after the Myanmar army overran one such state, Kokang, sending refugees spilling across the border into Yunnan Province.
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Myanmar introduces visas on arrival for tourists
Tue May 4, 10:31 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar's military government will offer visas on arrival to boost the country's nascent tourism sector, a travel industry official said on Tuesday.
Tourist visas, which are normally arranged days in advance at an embassy abroad, will be now be available at international airports in Mandalay and the biggest city, Yangon, said Tin Tun Aung, secretary of the Myanmar Travel Entrepreneurs Association.
"We heartily welcome it," Tin Tun Aung told Reuters. "I'm sure it will have a strong impact on tourist arrivals to our country."
The cost of the visa will be $30 and would be valid for 28 days, he added.
Although Myanmar is rich in jungles, beaches and mountains and is dotted with hundreds of golden Buddhist temples, its tourism industry remains largely undeveloped.
Total tourist arrivals in Myanmar during for the fiscal year 2009-2010 stood at 300,000, compared with 255,288 for the same period a year earlier. Some 315,536 people traveled to Myanmar in the 2005-2006 period, official data showed.
Those figures are dwarfed by neighboring Thailand, which drew 14.1 million tourists last year.
Many potential visitors are deterred by the poor reputation of the country and its hardline military rulers, who are accused of corruption, stifling democratic freedoms and presiding over decades of human rights abuses.
Myanmar's government plans to hold its first election in two decades some time this year and is on a drive to privatize numerous industries, including shipping and air travel, to attract more foreign investment, which has been restricted by Western sanctions on the regime.
Tue May 4, 10:31 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar's military government will offer visas on arrival to boost the country's nascent tourism sector, a travel industry official said on Tuesday.
Tourist visas, which are normally arranged days in advance at an embassy abroad, will be now be available at international airports in Mandalay and the biggest city, Yangon, said Tin Tun Aung, secretary of the Myanmar Travel Entrepreneurs Association.
"We heartily welcome it," Tin Tun Aung told Reuters. "I'm sure it will have a strong impact on tourist arrivals to our country."
The cost of the visa will be $30 and would be valid for 28 days, he added.
Although Myanmar is rich in jungles, beaches and mountains and is dotted with hundreds of golden Buddhist temples, its tourism industry remains largely undeveloped.
Total tourist arrivals in Myanmar during for the fiscal year 2009-2010 stood at 300,000, compared with 255,288 for the same period a year earlier. Some 315,536 people traveled to Myanmar in the 2005-2006 period, official data showed.
Those figures are dwarfed by neighboring Thailand, which drew 14.1 million tourists last year.
Many potential visitors are deterred by the poor reputation of the country and its hardline military rulers, who are accused of corruption, stifling democratic freedoms and presiding over decades of human rights abuses.
Myanmar's government plans to hold its first election in two decades some time this year and is on a drive to privatize numerous industries, including shipping and air travel, to attract more foreign investment, which has been restricted by Western sanctions on the regime.
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MYANMAR: Two years on, livelihoods top cyclone needs
AYEYARWADY DELTA, 3 May 2010 (IRIN) - Residents of the Ayeyarwady Delta, the area worst affected by Cyclone Nargis, have long known that food aid would end after two years, and some, like 55-year-old Sein Hla, advocate for self-reliance instead.
“We can’t always rely on food aid,” she said. “We have to stand on our own in order to move on.”
Cyclone Nargis destroyed Sein Hla’s home, killed five of her relatives and more than 600 people in her village, Kun Thee Chaung in Bogalay District.
Today, Sein Hla’s husband and son farm 6ha of land, while she sells snacks in the temporary hut the family has built, but they are now mired in debt.
Farmers often borrow money from rice traders and rice mill owners to buy rice seeds, fertiliser and fuel. The joint monthly report by the Myanmar government, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the UN noted that access to credit on reasonable terms or direct funding would greatly help farmers replace lost assets.
“We can work on the farm as before, but we still need to get loans from others in order to cover farming costs,” Sein Hla said. “We hope to pay back the loans soon.”
Before Nargis, farmers hired one worker for each 4ha at between US$1.50 and $2 per day, also providing rice and accommodation for the labourer’s family.
But now jobs are scarce and returnees’ livelihoods are one of the most pressing issues since the cyclone devastated the Ayeyarwady Delta in May 2008.
The recovery of “income-generating activities is crucial to landless household livelihoods, and is still low”, the report warns.
“If support for livelihood activities does not continue, there is a risk that many gains made since Nargis could be lost,” it states.
According to the government and aid agencies, 71 percent of household members rely on casual or seasonal work.
Farmers and fishermen
Delta residents are primarily farmers and fishermen, so restoring livelihoods would not only provide work, but also produce food for immediate use, said Tesfai Ghermazien of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Myanmar.
“Making them productive is the lasting solution, not food aid,” he said, noting that restoring livelihoods must happen alongside food distribution.
Since the category four storm struck, extensive relief efforts have provided some 1.1 million people with food aid, and more than 162,000 homes have been rebuilt or rehabilitated, according to a report released this week.
More than 344,000 households received agriculture support, and some 25,000 fishing boats were distributed, but livelihoods remain severely under-funded.
“The world has shifted attention to other disasters, and that’s an explanation as to why funding is not coming to us,” said Thierry Delbreuve, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Myanmar.
He noted that the delta’s population was resilient and would not traditionally choose to receive international aid.
“If we have the funds required, that would give them the momentum to really rebuild their lives,” he said.
Approximately $150 million is needed for livelihoods, the April recovery update states. Farmers in the 11 most affected townships lost 227,000 buffaloes and cows, and over the past two years, only 5,423 have been replaced. Of all the sectors, agriculture is “the one least funded, although 90 percent of the delta population depend for their livelihoods on farming and/or fisheries”, said Tesfai of the FAO.
AYEYARWADY DELTA, 3 May 2010 (IRIN) - Residents of the Ayeyarwady Delta, the area worst affected by Cyclone Nargis, have long known that food aid would end after two years, and some, like 55-year-old Sein Hla, advocate for self-reliance instead.
“We can’t always rely on food aid,” she said. “We have to stand on our own in order to move on.”
Cyclone Nargis destroyed Sein Hla’s home, killed five of her relatives and more than 600 people in her village, Kun Thee Chaung in Bogalay District.
Today, Sein Hla’s husband and son farm 6ha of land, while she sells snacks in the temporary hut the family has built, but they are now mired in debt.
Farmers often borrow money from rice traders and rice mill owners to buy rice seeds, fertiliser and fuel. The joint monthly report by the Myanmar government, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the UN noted that access to credit on reasonable terms or direct funding would greatly help farmers replace lost assets.
“We can work on the farm as before, but we still need to get loans from others in order to cover farming costs,” Sein Hla said. “We hope to pay back the loans soon.”
Before Nargis, farmers hired one worker for each 4ha at between US$1.50 and $2 per day, also providing rice and accommodation for the labourer’s family.
But now jobs are scarce and returnees’ livelihoods are one of the most pressing issues since the cyclone devastated the Ayeyarwady Delta in May 2008.
The recovery of “income-generating activities is crucial to landless household livelihoods, and is still low”, the report warns.
“If support for livelihood activities does not continue, there is a risk that many gains made since Nargis could be lost,” it states.
According to the government and aid agencies, 71 percent of household members rely on casual or seasonal work.
Farmers and fishermen
Delta residents are primarily farmers and fishermen, so restoring livelihoods would not only provide work, but also produce food for immediate use, said Tesfai Ghermazien of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Myanmar.
“Making them productive is the lasting solution, not food aid,” he said, noting that restoring livelihoods must happen alongside food distribution.
Since the category four storm struck, extensive relief efforts have provided some 1.1 million people with food aid, and more than 162,000 homes have been rebuilt or rehabilitated, according to a report released this week.
More than 344,000 households received agriculture support, and some 25,000 fishing boats were distributed, but livelihoods remain severely under-funded.
“The world has shifted attention to other disasters, and that’s an explanation as to why funding is not coming to us,” said Thierry Delbreuve, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Myanmar.
He noted that the delta’s population was resilient and would not traditionally choose to receive international aid.
“If we have the funds required, that would give them the momentum to really rebuild their lives,” he said.
Approximately $150 million is needed for livelihoods, the April recovery update states. Farmers in the 11 most affected townships lost 227,000 buffaloes and cows, and over the past two years, only 5,423 have been replaced. Of all the sectors, agriculture is “the one least funded, although 90 percent of the delta population depend for their livelihoods on farming and/or fisheries”, said Tesfai of the FAO.
*******************************************************
The Cleveland Plain Dealer - 'Everything is Broken' gets to the truth of Burma's handling of cyclone disaster
By Anne Trubek
May 05, 2010, 9:50AM
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta in Burma. The storm decimated villages, killed thousands and displaced millions. Burma was in dire need of international aid.
But the ruling regime turned back boats stocked with supplies. They stopped disaster-relief specialists at checkpoints. So little aid was provided it was "like tossing sesame seeds into the mouth of an elephant," as the Burmese phrase goes.
The nation's newspapers ran a few stories about refugees relocated to pristine camps with new blue tents, then announced the country was moving into the rebuilding phase.
The Burmese totalitarian junta, which calls the Southeast Asian country Miramar, guards access to it as closely as any nation on Earth. Unlike in North Korea or Cuba, which stage a cult of the ruler, Burma's titular head is rarely sighted, a "Machiavellian puppet master."
And any citizen speaking to an international journalist risks imprisonment. Still, "Everything Is Broken" chronicles what happened in Burma immediately after the storm, and again a few months later when Buddhist monks took to the streets in radical protest against the government.
We cannot know the details about how this expertly researched and lucidly written book came to be. The author, Emma Larkin, writes under a pseudonym. She is, according to the official biography, an American journalist born and raised in Asia, who speaks the Burmese language and lives in Thailand. She also wrote the acclaimed 2005 book, "Finding George Orwell in Burma."
Larkin is such a facile observer and writer, she tempts comparisons to Orwell, and certainly ranks with Ryszard Kapuscinski as a lyric writer of reportage. Larkin is self-effacing not only in name but in writing; her aim to is to show us Burma, and only lightly adds her experiences and analyses.
After the storm, a story circulates about a monger discovering a human finger inside a fish. People began avoiding fish and all food sources stemming from the Irrawaddy Delta. With all stories about Burma, Larkin notes, what "becomes important . . . is not whether they are true but whether people believe them to be true."
In her book, Larkin tries to discover why the regime acts so cruelly. Are the leaders so removed from the country's reality they have no conception of the suffering, or do they fear losing face with the rest of the world? In the absence of reliable information, the answer becomes what the Burmese believe, a defaulted truth they create for themselves.
One "of the great tragedies of life in Burma," Larkin says of the government denial of Cyclone Nargis' devastation, the latest of many denials, is "that recent historical events . . . cannot be honestly and openly acknowledged, debated, or even remembered within the country. Instead, the exact opposite takes place, and Burma's history is swallowed up by a strictly enforced collective forgetting."
With "Everything Is Broken," Larkin is remembering, for us and for the Burmese who cannot tell us their stories. We are in her debt.
Anne Trubek is a critic and professor at Oberlin College.
By Anne Trubek
May 05, 2010, 9:50AM
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta in Burma. The storm decimated villages, killed thousands and displaced millions. Burma was in dire need of international aid.
But the ruling regime turned back boats stocked with supplies. They stopped disaster-relief specialists at checkpoints. So little aid was provided it was "like tossing sesame seeds into the mouth of an elephant," as the Burmese phrase goes.
The nation's newspapers ran a few stories about refugees relocated to pristine camps with new blue tents, then announced the country was moving into the rebuilding phase.
The Burmese totalitarian junta, which calls the Southeast Asian country Miramar, guards access to it as closely as any nation on Earth. Unlike in North Korea or Cuba, which stage a cult of the ruler, Burma's titular head is rarely sighted, a "Machiavellian puppet master."
And any citizen speaking to an international journalist risks imprisonment. Still, "Everything Is Broken" chronicles what happened in Burma immediately after the storm, and again a few months later when Buddhist monks took to the streets in radical protest against the government.
We cannot know the details about how this expertly researched and lucidly written book came to be. The author, Emma Larkin, writes under a pseudonym. She is, according to the official biography, an American journalist born and raised in Asia, who speaks the Burmese language and lives in Thailand. She also wrote the acclaimed 2005 book, "Finding George Orwell in Burma."
Larkin is such a facile observer and writer, she tempts comparisons to Orwell, and certainly ranks with Ryszard Kapuscinski as a lyric writer of reportage. Larkin is self-effacing not only in name but in writing; her aim to is to show us Burma, and only lightly adds her experiences and analyses.
After the storm, a story circulates about a monger discovering a human finger inside a fish. People began avoiding fish and all food sources stemming from the Irrawaddy Delta. With all stories about Burma, Larkin notes, what "becomes important . . . is not whether they are true but whether people believe them to be true."
In her book, Larkin tries to discover why the regime acts so cruelly. Are the leaders so removed from the country's reality they have no conception of the suffering, or do they fear losing face with the rest of the world? In the absence of reliable information, the answer becomes what the Burmese believe, a defaulted truth they create for themselves.
One "of the great tragedies of life in Burma," Larkin says of the government denial of Cyclone Nargis' devastation, the latest of many denials, is "that recent historical events . . . cannot be honestly and openly acknowledged, debated, or even remembered within the country. Instead, the exact opposite takes place, and Burma's history is swallowed up by a strictly enforced collective forgetting."
With "Everything Is Broken," Larkin is remembering, for us and for the Burmese who cannot tell us their stories. We are in her debt.
Anne Trubek is a critic and professor at Oberlin College.
*******************************************************
The Wesleyan Argus - Burma: My Unforsaken Nation
By Angela Ei Hay Mann
I am from a place where the time passes slowly, along with the country’s growth; where freedom of thought and freedom of speech do not exist; where the people’s lives and careers are dependent on every decision the government makes. This place is Burma, known officially as the Union of Myanmar; I have lived in the former capital of Yangon my entire life.
Long ago, Burma was a prosperous nation in Southeast Asia with an abundance of natural resources holding great potential for its future. This hope was shattered in 1962, when General Ne Win took over Burma in a military coup. He went to great lengths to excercise and maintain control over our country, restricting access to education in order to prevent others from challenging him. Those who did were jailed or killed. Life in Burma became characterized by fear and turmoil, but resistance against the goverment grew nonetheless. As with most historic political movements, it was students who began protesting against this Burmese totalitarian regime in 1988. Massive bloodshed spread across the country as the military regime turned their guns on the protesters. It was the most significant event in modern Burmese history, and it will never be forgotten.
On the other side of the world in London, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (the daughter of Burmese National Hero, General Aung San), who later won the Nobel Peace Prize, returned to Burma to be wtih her dying mother; she soon became a part of the nationwide uprising that occurred in August 1988. She and others formed the National League for Democracy (NLD). Finally, the day that the Burmese people had been waiting for--the day they could be freed from their nightmare--came on election day in May 1990. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD party won 82 percent of the seats in the parliament. It was a landslide victory, but the old regime refused to transfer their power, and instead began persecuting those who tried to protest.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi refused to leave Burma and our people, committed to her mission of delivering us democracy and freedom from the military government. When her husband, Micheal Aris, became gravely ill, the government allowed her to travel to London under the condition that she was forbidden from ever returning to Burma. In addition, they refused an entry visa for her husband. As a result, she never again saw her husband, who passed away without her at his side in London. Worse yet, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has not seen the two sons she left so many years ago. For the good of the country and people, she has sacrificed her life and her family.
“My choice has already been made. It’s my country first,” she said. “I don’t look upon it as a sacrifice. It’s a choice. If you choose to do something, then you shouldn’t say it’s a sacrifice because nobody forced you to do it.”
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been put under house arrest for 14 years of the 22 that have passed since 1988. The military regime detained her unjustly, claiming that she threatened the stability of the nation. Her most recent house arrest was on May 3, 2009, when an American man, John Yettaw, swam across Inya Lake to her house, uninvited, and was arrested upon making his return trip three days later. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested for violating the terms of her house arrest because the swimmer, who pleaded exhaustion, was allowed to stay in her house for two days before attempting to swim back. She was later taken to Insein Prison to stand trial where she could face up to five years confinement for the violation. In August 2009, the trial concluded with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi being sentenced to imprisonment for three years with hard labor. The military rulers then commuted this sentence to an extended house arrest of 18 months. With the negotiation of U.S. Senator Jim Webb and the Burmese government, John Yettaw was released and deported from Burma.
Twenty years of totalitarian rule has not changed much for the better in Burma. With its natural resources and richness, Burma holds the potential to be a rapidly developing country today; it is painful to know how this potential could be realized, if only the government was genuinely committed to the betterment of society, respecting human rights, providing freedom of thought and speech and the opportunity to have its economy open to the world. The military regime is not interested in helping its own people.
In August 2007, even with such a wide gap between the rich and the poor, the government increased the price of natural gas by 500%, which caused unrest among the whole country. How are people going to survive with such an increase in price when many of them are still struggling with their daily needs? It was a direct threat to the lives of millions of people. The situation is so unbearable that turbulence stormed when Buddhist monks from all over Burma treaded the roads in Yangon, chanting prayers, showing support to the sufferings of the Burmese people. In mid September 2007, many people started joining the monks in this Saffron Revolution. To show my support, I walked along with the crowds, yelling my heart out; I could feel the surge of anger towards the corrupt military regime that had been kept inside me, coming out of every part of my bones. The feeling of patriotism, hope for human rights for my people, as I joined the protest, was unparalleled to anything I have ever done in my whole life. Not long after, the military regime, as one would have expected, brought down the Saffron Revolution with gun power. The sound of guns could be heard throughout the city, causing bloodshed everywhere. Many monks and other people lost their lives and many were kept in prisons as political prisoners until today.
The brutality of the military regime was also shown when they did not help the victims of Cyclone Nargis that struck the delta areas of Burma in May 2008. The government not only refused to help but also forbade many other non-government organizations from going down to the delta area to give the storm victims relief aid. Seeing news on TV about the cyclone and the casualties made my heart ache, and then learning that the government was doing nothing about it—nothing at all—made me extremely furious.
Right after my AP exams that week, I set off to help the people in the delta areas by writing grant proposals to many non-government organizations and delivering food supplies and relief aid to the delta regions. I also helped translate news articles and also translate what the victims told of their tragic encounter with the devastation of the cyclone. While many other organizations and many generous foreign countries were getting on their feet to help, the government was reluctant to accept their offerings by prohibiting the international aids to enter the affected zone.
Many years have passed and another election is about to come again in Burma. The military regime this time has come up with their devious plan of excluding Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the election. Under a new election law announced in March 2010, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi faces exclusion from her own National League for Democracy party and is not allowed to stand in elections this year on the grounds that she is a serving prisoner. The election law says that the NLD must expel Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from its ranks or be dissolved on the grounds that a person serving a prison term cannot be a party member. Another law says that the junta itself will handpick members of the country’s new electoral commission. Burma’s ruling junta has used new election laws to officially annul the result of polls in 1990 that were won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party. The election laws are unjust!
I believe the vital step towards gaining democracy and human rights, is to have a great leader who puts the country first, leading its people to true freedom and its deserving potential. Only then will Burma become a free and peaceful land. The Burmese people have that much needed leader. The European Union, United Nations, United States, and Great Britain have supported her with their sharp criticisms and imposing of trade sanctions. The people of Burma have no one to lean on but those powerful nations.
Unfortunately, the more those nations reprimand and berate the military government for the way it treats its people, the more the government presses its big thumb down on them. As for the trade sanctions against Burma, former supporters of these sanctions are now admitting that the deprivation approach has not had good results. Mere trade sanctions imposed by the U.S., Great Britain and other powerful nations do not seem to have any impact on their goals of making the military regime better the treatment of its people. The military elite couldn’t care less about the trade sanctions, given their thriving trade with China, India and the ASEAN nations. The citizens of Burma are getting poorer and poorer every day. It’s time to think deeply about why, with all the help and support of the world, our freedom from tyranny is still dim. With this, a quote by Albert Einstent comes to mind: “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts”. It’s time the world starts changing the facts about Burma. I believe the first step is to help free Aung San Suu Kyi from her unjust house arrest and exclusion from elections. Free Aung San Suu Kyi! Free Burma!
Mann is a member of the class of 2013.
By Angela Ei Hay Mann
I am from a place where the time passes slowly, along with the country’s growth; where freedom of thought and freedom of speech do not exist; where the people’s lives and careers are dependent on every decision the government makes. This place is Burma, known officially as the Union of Myanmar; I have lived in the former capital of Yangon my entire life.
Long ago, Burma was a prosperous nation in Southeast Asia with an abundance of natural resources holding great potential for its future. This hope was shattered in 1962, when General Ne Win took over Burma in a military coup. He went to great lengths to excercise and maintain control over our country, restricting access to education in order to prevent others from challenging him. Those who did were jailed or killed. Life in Burma became characterized by fear and turmoil, but resistance against the goverment grew nonetheless. As with most historic political movements, it was students who began protesting against this Burmese totalitarian regime in 1988. Massive bloodshed spread across the country as the military regime turned their guns on the protesters. It was the most significant event in modern Burmese history, and it will never be forgotten.
On the other side of the world in London, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (the daughter of Burmese National Hero, General Aung San), who later won the Nobel Peace Prize, returned to Burma to be wtih her dying mother; she soon became a part of the nationwide uprising that occurred in August 1988. She and others formed the National League for Democracy (NLD). Finally, the day that the Burmese people had been waiting for--the day they could be freed from their nightmare--came on election day in May 1990. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD party won 82 percent of the seats in the parliament. It was a landslide victory, but the old regime refused to transfer their power, and instead began persecuting those who tried to protest.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi refused to leave Burma and our people, committed to her mission of delivering us democracy and freedom from the military government. When her husband, Micheal Aris, became gravely ill, the government allowed her to travel to London under the condition that she was forbidden from ever returning to Burma. In addition, they refused an entry visa for her husband. As a result, she never again saw her husband, who passed away without her at his side in London. Worse yet, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has not seen the two sons she left so many years ago. For the good of the country and people, she has sacrificed her life and her family.
“My choice has already been made. It’s my country first,” she said. “I don’t look upon it as a sacrifice. It’s a choice. If you choose to do something, then you shouldn’t say it’s a sacrifice because nobody forced you to do it.”
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been put under house arrest for 14 years of the 22 that have passed since 1988. The military regime detained her unjustly, claiming that she threatened the stability of the nation. Her most recent house arrest was on May 3, 2009, when an American man, John Yettaw, swam across Inya Lake to her house, uninvited, and was arrested upon making his return trip three days later. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested for violating the terms of her house arrest because the swimmer, who pleaded exhaustion, was allowed to stay in her house for two days before attempting to swim back. She was later taken to Insein Prison to stand trial where she could face up to five years confinement for the violation. In August 2009, the trial concluded with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi being sentenced to imprisonment for three years with hard labor. The military rulers then commuted this sentence to an extended house arrest of 18 months. With the negotiation of U.S. Senator Jim Webb and the Burmese government, John Yettaw was released and deported from Burma.
Twenty years of totalitarian rule has not changed much for the better in Burma. With its natural resources and richness, Burma holds the potential to be a rapidly developing country today; it is painful to know how this potential could be realized, if only the government was genuinely committed to the betterment of society, respecting human rights, providing freedom of thought and speech and the opportunity to have its economy open to the world. The military regime is not interested in helping its own people.
In August 2007, even with such a wide gap between the rich and the poor, the government increased the price of natural gas by 500%, which caused unrest among the whole country. How are people going to survive with such an increase in price when many of them are still struggling with their daily needs? It was a direct threat to the lives of millions of people. The situation is so unbearable that turbulence stormed when Buddhist monks from all over Burma treaded the roads in Yangon, chanting prayers, showing support to the sufferings of the Burmese people. In mid September 2007, many people started joining the monks in this Saffron Revolution. To show my support, I walked along with the crowds, yelling my heart out; I could feel the surge of anger towards the corrupt military regime that had been kept inside me, coming out of every part of my bones. The feeling of patriotism, hope for human rights for my people, as I joined the protest, was unparalleled to anything I have ever done in my whole life. Not long after, the military regime, as one would have expected, brought down the Saffron Revolution with gun power. The sound of guns could be heard throughout the city, causing bloodshed everywhere. Many monks and other people lost their lives and many were kept in prisons as political prisoners until today.
The brutality of the military regime was also shown when they did not help the victims of Cyclone Nargis that struck the delta areas of Burma in May 2008. The government not only refused to help but also forbade many other non-government organizations from going down to the delta area to give the storm victims relief aid. Seeing news on TV about the cyclone and the casualties made my heart ache, and then learning that the government was doing nothing about it—nothing at all—made me extremely furious.
Right after my AP exams that week, I set off to help the people in the delta areas by writing grant proposals to many non-government organizations and delivering food supplies and relief aid to the delta regions. I also helped translate news articles and also translate what the victims told of their tragic encounter with the devastation of the cyclone. While many other organizations and many generous foreign countries were getting on their feet to help, the government was reluctant to accept their offerings by prohibiting the international aids to enter the affected zone.
Many years have passed and another election is about to come again in Burma. The military regime this time has come up with their devious plan of excluding Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the election. Under a new election law announced in March 2010, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi faces exclusion from her own National League for Democracy party and is not allowed to stand in elections this year on the grounds that she is a serving prisoner. The election law says that the NLD must expel Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from its ranks or be dissolved on the grounds that a person serving a prison term cannot be a party member. Another law says that the junta itself will handpick members of the country’s new electoral commission. Burma’s ruling junta has used new election laws to officially annul the result of polls in 1990 that were won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party. The election laws are unjust!
I believe the vital step towards gaining democracy and human rights, is to have a great leader who puts the country first, leading its people to true freedom and its deserving potential. Only then will Burma become a free and peaceful land. The Burmese people have that much needed leader. The European Union, United Nations, United States, and Great Britain have supported her with their sharp criticisms and imposing of trade sanctions. The people of Burma have no one to lean on but those powerful nations.
Unfortunately, the more those nations reprimand and berate the military government for the way it treats its people, the more the government presses its big thumb down on them. As for the trade sanctions against Burma, former supporters of these sanctions are now admitting that the deprivation approach has not had good results. Mere trade sanctions imposed by the U.S., Great Britain and other powerful nations do not seem to have any impact on their goals of making the military regime better the treatment of its people. The military elite couldn’t care less about the trade sanctions, given their thriving trade with China, India and the ASEAN nations. The citizens of Burma are getting poorer and poorer every day. It’s time to think deeply about why, with all the help and support of the world, our freedom from tyranny is still dim. With this, a quote by Albert Einstent comes to mind: “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts”. It’s time the world starts changing the facts about Burma. I believe the first step is to help free Aung San Suu Kyi from her unjust house arrest and exclusion from elections. Free Aung San Suu Kyi! Free Burma!
Mann is a member of the class of 2013.
*******************************************************
Stuff.co.nz - Two men who died onboard ship named
NZPA
Last updated 17:06 05/05/2010
Police have named the two men who died on a log carrier at Marsden Point near Whangarei on Monday.
Deongchil Oh, 56, of Korea, and Thi Ha Aung, 33, of Myanmar, died after apparently suffocating through a lack of oxygen in the hold of the bulk carrier TPC Wellington.
A third man, a Korean who went to their aid, was pulled to safety by two more crewmen wearing breathing apparatus.
Several investigations into the event are under way, though police said their investigation has all but finished.
"We do the initial scene examination to ensure there's no misadventure and make sure there's no criminal element," Sergeant Ken Andrews of Northland Police said.
"Once it's determined there's an accident we just act on behalf of coroner and prepare the file."
Mr Andrews said a post-mortem examination was due today but it was unlikely the results would be released while inquiries were ongoing.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigator Captain Iain Hill was on site for a second day today, conducting various interviews.
Maritime New Zealand are also investigating the incident.
Maritime Union general secretary Joe Fleetwood said a full investigation was required as it was the most serious incident in a New Zealand port for some time.
The Panamanian-registered carrier had come from Tauranga and was scheduled to depart today, though that may depend on Capt Hill's inquiries.
NZPA
Last updated 17:06 05/05/2010
Police have named the two men who died on a log carrier at Marsden Point near Whangarei on Monday.
Deongchil Oh, 56, of Korea, and Thi Ha Aung, 33, of Myanmar, died after apparently suffocating through a lack of oxygen in the hold of the bulk carrier TPC Wellington.
A third man, a Korean who went to their aid, was pulled to safety by two more crewmen wearing breathing apparatus.
Several investigations into the event are under way, though police said their investigation has all but finished.
"We do the initial scene examination to ensure there's no misadventure and make sure there's no criminal element," Sergeant Ken Andrews of Northland Police said.
"Once it's determined there's an accident we just act on behalf of coroner and prepare the file."
Mr Andrews said a post-mortem examination was due today but it was unlikely the results would be released while inquiries were ongoing.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigator Captain Iain Hill was on site for a second day today, conducting various interviews.
Maritime New Zealand are also investigating the incident.
Maritime Union general secretary Joe Fleetwood said a full investigation was required as it was the most serious incident in a New Zealand port for some time.
The Panamanian-registered carrier had come from Tauranga and was scheduled to depart today, though that may depend on Capt Hill's inquiries.
*******************************************************
Financial Express Bangladesh - Japanese companies sign hydropower deal with Myanmar
YANGON, May 2 (Xinhua): Two Japanese companies have reached respective contract agreements with Myanmar's power authorities to provide related services to a hydropower project in the country, an official daily reported yesterday.
One agreement on consulting services of in-house engineering services was signed between the NEWJEC Inc of Japan and Myanmar's Ministry of Electric Power-1, while the other on concrete work of the Upper Yeywa hydropower project was between the High Tech Concrete Technology Co Ltd of Japan and the Myanmar ministry in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The Upper Yeywa hydropower project is a follow-up one of the Yeywa project, which is nearly-completed.
The 790-megawatt (mw) Yeywa hydropower plant is said to mainly distribute electricity to the commercial city of Yangon.
One of its four turbines with 180 mw started its test-run in February to generate power and the full run is expected by this month.
The Yeywa hydropower plant, which lies on the Myitnge River, 50 kilometers southeast of Mandalay, is being implemented by the Ministry of Electric Power-1.
The hydropower plant, which costs 600 million U.S. dollars, will produce 3.55 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) annually on total completion and its generating capacity represents 70 per cent of about 5 billion kwh being generated by 15 power plants.
YANGON, May 2 (Xinhua): Two Japanese companies have reached respective contract agreements with Myanmar's power authorities to provide related services to a hydropower project in the country, an official daily reported yesterday.
One agreement on consulting services of in-house engineering services was signed between the NEWJEC Inc of Japan and Myanmar's Ministry of Electric Power-1, while the other on concrete work of the Upper Yeywa hydropower project was between the High Tech Concrete Technology Co Ltd of Japan and the Myanmar ministry in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The Upper Yeywa hydropower project is a follow-up one of the Yeywa project, which is nearly-completed.
The 790-megawatt (mw) Yeywa hydropower plant is said to mainly distribute electricity to the commercial city of Yangon.
One of its four turbines with 180 mw started its test-run in February to generate power and the full run is expected by this month.
The Yeywa hydropower plant, which lies on the Myitnge River, 50 kilometers southeast of Mandalay, is being implemented by the Ministry of Electric Power-1.
The hydropower plant, which costs 600 million U.S. dollars, will produce 3.55 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) annually on total completion and its generating capacity represents 70 per cent of about 5 billion kwh being generated by 15 power plants.
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Canada.com - Canada earmarks $2M in aid to Myanmar
By Tobin Dalrymple, Canwest News Service May 5, 2008
OTTAWA -- Canada’s international aid agency will provide $2-million to help rebuild Myanmar, a country reeling from a cyclone that hit this weekend.
Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Saturday, causing the deaths of an estimated 10,000 people. Thousands more are missing or without shelter and the cost of food and fuel has gone up dramatically in the region. At least five Burmese states and one city, Rangoon, have been declared disaster areas by the country’s government.
In question period Monday, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda announced the funding, which will be administered by the Canadian International Development Agency. The $2-million will go towards supporting international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Red Cross and the World Food Program, said the minister.
Oda hinted that there are concerns the aid agencies will have trouble gaining entry into the military-run country. According to the minister, the UN has already successfully negotiated access with the Myanmar government, but the Canadian government would like to see other international organizations afforded the same access.
“We urge the government to allow international organizations to proceed with an effective aid operation so that this challenge can be addressed and people suffering can be reduced,” said Oda.
By Tobin Dalrymple, Canwest News Service May 5, 2008
OTTAWA -- Canada’s international aid agency will provide $2-million to help rebuild Myanmar, a country reeling from a cyclone that hit this weekend.
Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Saturday, causing the deaths of an estimated 10,000 people. Thousands more are missing or without shelter and the cost of food and fuel has gone up dramatically in the region. At least five Burmese states and one city, Rangoon, have been declared disaster areas by the country’s government.
In question period Monday, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda announced the funding, which will be administered by the Canadian International Development Agency. The $2-million will go towards supporting international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Red Cross and the World Food Program, said the minister.
Oda hinted that there are concerns the aid agencies will have trouble gaining entry into the military-run country. According to the minister, the UN has already successfully negotiated access with the Myanmar government, but the Canadian government would like to see other international organizations afforded the same access.
“We urge the government to allow international organizations to proceed with an effective aid operation so that this challenge can be addressed and people suffering can be reduced,” said Oda.
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iStockAnalyst - Myanmar to establish software development offshore center
Saturday, May 01, 2010 10:38 PM
YANGON, May 2, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- A Myanmar IT company and two Japanese counterparts have reached a memorandum of understanding on establishment of software development offshore center in Myanmar, an official daily reported Sunday.
The MoU was signed among the ACE Data Systems Co Ltd of Myanmar, DIR System Technology Co Ltd and USE Information System Development Co Ltd of Japan in Yangon Friday, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The event was witnessed by Myanmar Deputy Minister of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs U Thein Tun, a former major general, according to the report.
The signing significantly marked increased cooperation between Myanmar and foreign IT companies in the development of Myanmar's information and communication technology (ICT).
In December 2007, Myanmar launched its first largest ICT park, also known as the Yadanapon cyber city, in Pyi Oo Lwin, northern Mandalay division.
The authorities allotted hundreds of hectares of land in the soft-base factory area of the Yadanabon cyber city for dozens' local and foreign IT companies to develop their business undertakings.
Later, Myanmar's Yadanarpon teleport company was formed in May last year with 40 percent of stake shared by the government and the remaining 60 percent by local private sector.
Meanwhile, the Yadanarpon teleport, introduced its first largest national web portal in March this year in cooperation with local IT companies with a total investment so far reaching up to 2 million U.S. dollars.
With the website address of http://www.yadanarpon.net, the web portal, like other search engines of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) , Yahoo and MSN, is providing the users with e-mail, education, entertainment, health, economic and communication services.
In addition, it also provides search engine, e-mail, social network website, instant messaging system, songs and video stores, free advertisements, job vacancy announcements, online education system, television guide in both English and Myanmar.
In cooperation with local and foreign news media, the company's website also carries local and international news.
Saturday, May 01, 2010 10:38 PM
YANGON, May 2, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- A Myanmar IT company and two Japanese counterparts have reached a memorandum of understanding on establishment of software development offshore center in Myanmar, an official daily reported Sunday.
The MoU was signed among the ACE Data Systems Co Ltd of Myanmar, DIR System Technology Co Ltd and USE Information System Development Co Ltd of Japan in Yangon Friday, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The event was witnessed by Myanmar Deputy Minister of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs U Thein Tun, a former major general, according to the report.
The signing significantly marked increased cooperation between Myanmar and foreign IT companies in the development of Myanmar's information and communication technology (ICT).
In December 2007, Myanmar launched its first largest ICT park, also known as the Yadanapon cyber city, in Pyi Oo Lwin, northern Mandalay division.
The authorities allotted hundreds of hectares of land in the soft-base factory area of the Yadanabon cyber city for dozens' local and foreign IT companies to develop their business undertakings.
Later, Myanmar's Yadanarpon teleport company was formed in May last year with 40 percent of stake shared by the government and the remaining 60 percent by local private sector.
Meanwhile, the Yadanarpon teleport, introduced its first largest national web portal in March this year in cooperation with local IT companies with a total investment so far reaching up to 2 million U.S. dollars.
With the website address of http://www.yadanarpon.net, the web portal, like other search engines of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) , Yahoo and MSN, is providing the users with e-mail, education, entertainment, health, economic and communication services.
In addition, it also provides search engine, e-mail, social network website, instant messaging system, songs and video stores, free advertisements, job vacancy announcements, online education system, television guide in both English and Myanmar.
In cooperation with local and foreign news media, the company's website also carries local and international news.
*******************************************************
New Straits Times - Myanmar leader warns of election 'saboteurs'
2010/05/01
YANGON: The head of Myanmar’s ruling junta warned of “saboteurs” conspiring to derail the country’s election due to be held later this year.
General Than Shwe said “conspiracy saboteurs from inside and outside the country” were attempting to “harm the election”, in a May Day address published in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
The country has been hit by several bombings in recent years which the junta blames on armed exile groups or ethnic rebels, including a recent spate of deadly blasts as the government prepares for its first election in two decades.
“I would urge you all to ward off attempts of saboteurs and aliens to interfere and to sow seeds of mistrust in our country,” Than Shwe said.
Two hydropower projects were the target of a series of explosions, while 10 people were killed and at least 170 wounded on April 15, when a water festival in Yangon was bombed in the city’s worst attack in five years.
The blasts came as the country readies for the election, which critics say will lack credibility because of laws that effectively bar opposition leader and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part.
The poll will be the country’s first since 1990 but Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party has announced a boycott over the rules, which would have forced it to expel her as leader if it wanted to participate.
Myanmar premier Thein Sein and 22 other ministers retired from their military posts Monday, in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian form ahead of the vote.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, partly justifying its grip on power with the need to fend off ethnic rebellions that have plagued remote border areas for decades.
Armed minorities in Karen and Shan states continue to fight the government along the country’s eastern border, alleging they are subject to neglect and mistreatment.
Foreign governments have urged the regime to take steps to ensure the vote is free, fair and credible. The last was won by the NLD in a landslide but never recognised by the junta. -- AFP
2010/05/01
YANGON: The head of Myanmar’s ruling junta warned of “saboteurs” conspiring to derail the country’s election due to be held later this year.
General Than Shwe said “conspiracy saboteurs from inside and outside the country” were attempting to “harm the election”, in a May Day address published in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
The country has been hit by several bombings in recent years which the junta blames on armed exile groups or ethnic rebels, including a recent spate of deadly blasts as the government prepares for its first election in two decades.
“I would urge you all to ward off attempts of saboteurs and aliens to interfere and to sow seeds of mistrust in our country,” Than Shwe said.
Two hydropower projects were the target of a series of explosions, while 10 people were killed and at least 170 wounded on April 15, when a water festival in Yangon was bombed in the city’s worst attack in five years.
The blasts came as the country readies for the election, which critics say will lack credibility because of laws that effectively bar opposition leader and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part.
The poll will be the country’s first since 1990 but Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party has announced a boycott over the rules, which would have forced it to expel her as leader if it wanted to participate.
Myanmar premier Thein Sein and 22 other ministers retired from their military posts Monday, in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian form ahead of the vote.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, partly justifying its grip on power with the need to fend off ethnic rebellions that have plagued remote border areas for decades.
Armed minorities in Karen and Shan states continue to fight the government along the country’s eastern border, alleging they are subject to neglect and mistreatment.
Foreign governments have urged the regime to take steps to ensure the vote is free, fair and credible. The last was won by the NLD in a landslide but never recognised by the junta. -- AFP
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The Taipei Times - How the US should engage with Myanmar
By Wesley K. Clark , Henrietta H. Fore and Suzanne DiMaggio
Thursday, May 06, 2010, Page 9
The decision by US President Barack Obama’s administration to seek a new way forward in US-Myanmar relations recognizes that decades of trying to isolate Myanmar in order to change the behavior of its government have achieved little. With Myanmar’s ruling generals preparing to hold elections later this year — for the first time since 1990 — it is time to try something different.
Attempting to engage one of the world’s most authoritarian governments will not be easy. There is no evidence to indicate that Myanmar’s leaders will respond positively to the Obama administration’s central message, which calls for releasing the estimated 2,100 political prisoners (including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), engaging in genuine dialogue with the opposition, and allowing fair and inclusive elections. In fact, the recently enacted electoral laws, which have been met with international condemnation, already point to a process that lacks credibility.
This past fall, we convened a task force under the auspices of the Asia Society to consider how the US can best pursue a path of engagement with Myanmar. We concluded that the US must ensure that its policies do not inadvertently support or encourage authoritarian and corrupt elements in Myanmar society. At the same time, if the US sets the bar too high at the outset, it will deny itself an effective role in helping to move Myanmar away from authoritarian rule and into the world community.
During this period of uncertainty, we recommend framing US policy toward Myanmar on the basis of changes taking place in the country, using both engagement and sanctions to encourage reform. The Obama administration’s decision to maintain trade and investment sanctions on Myanmar in the absence of meaningful change, particularly with regard to the Burmese government’s intolerance of political opposition, is correct.
Yet there are other measures that should be pursued now. The US should engage not only with Myanmar’s leaders, but also with a wide range of groups inside the country to encourage the dialogue necessary to bring about national reconciliation of the military, democracy groups and non-Burmese nationalities. The removal by the US of some non-economic sanctions designed to restrict official bilateral interaction is welcome, and an even greater relaxation in communications, through both official and unofficial channels, should be implemented. Expanding such channels, especially during a period of potential political change, will strengthen US leverage.
To reach the Burmese people directly, the US should continue to develop and scale up assistance programs, while preserving cross-border assistance. Assistance to non-governmental organizations should be expanded, and US assistance also should be targeted toward small farmers and small and medium-sized businesses. Educational exchanges under the Fulbright and Humphrey Scholar programs and cultural outreach activities should be increased. These programs produce powerful agents for community development in Myanmar and can significantly improve the prospects for better governance.
US policy should shift to a more robust phase if Myanmar’s leaders begin to relax political restrictions, institute economic reforms and advance human rights. If there is no movement on these fronts, there will likely be pressure in the US for tightening sanctions. If there is no recourse but to pursue stronger sanctions, the US should coordinate with others, including the EU and ASEAN, to impose targeted financial and banking measures to ensure that military leaders and their associates cannot evade the impact of what otherwise would be less-effective unilateral sanctions.
If a different scenario emerges, it should open the way for a much more active US role in assisting with capacity building, governance training and international efforts to encourage economic reforms. One priority should be the development of an appropriate mechanism for ensuring that revenues from the sale of natural gas are properly accounted for, repatriated and allocated to meet urgent national needs.
In adjusting its policy toward Myanmar, the US must face reality with a clear vision of what its foreign policy can achieve. US influence in Myanmar is unlikely to outweigh that of increasingly powerful Asian neighbors. Therefore, the US should make collaboration with other key stakeholders, particularly ASEAN, the UN and Myanmar’s neighbors — including China, India and Japan — the centerpiece of its policy.
In every respect, conditions in Myanmar are among the most dire of any country in the world and it will take decades, if not generations, to reverse current downward trends and create a foundation for a sustainable and viable democratic government and a prosperous society. The US needs to position itself to respond effectively and flexibly to the twists and turns that a potential transition in Myanmar may take over time, with an eye toward pressing the Burmese leadership to move in positive directions.
Wesley K. Clark is a Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Relations. Henrietta H. Fore is a former administrator of USAID. Both are co-chairs of the Asia Society-sponsored Task Force on US Policy Toward Myanmar. Suzanne DiMaggio is director of Policy Studies at the Asia Society.
By Wesley K. Clark , Henrietta H. Fore and Suzanne DiMaggio
Thursday, May 06, 2010, Page 9
The decision by US President Barack Obama’s administration to seek a new way forward in US-Myanmar relations recognizes that decades of trying to isolate Myanmar in order to change the behavior of its government have achieved little. With Myanmar’s ruling generals preparing to hold elections later this year — for the first time since 1990 — it is time to try something different.
Attempting to engage one of the world’s most authoritarian governments will not be easy. There is no evidence to indicate that Myanmar’s leaders will respond positively to the Obama administration’s central message, which calls for releasing the estimated 2,100 political prisoners (including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), engaging in genuine dialogue with the opposition, and allowing fair and inclusive elections. In fact, the recently enacted electoral laws, which have been met with international condemnation, already point to a process that lacks credibility.
This past fall, we convened a task force under the auspices of the Asia Society to consider how the US can best pursue a path of engagement with Myanmar. We concluded that the US must ensure that its policies do not inadvertently support or encourage authoritarian and corrupt elements in Myanmar society. At the same time, if the US sets the bar too high at the outset, it will deny itself an effective role in helping to move Myanmar away from authoritarian rule and into the world community.
During this period of uncertainty, we recommend framing US policy toward Myanmar on the basis of changes taking place in the country, using both engagement and sanctions to encourage reform. The Obama administration’s decision to maintain trade and investment sanctions on Myanmar in the absence of meaningful change, particularly with regard to the Burmese government’s intolerance of political opposition, is correct.
Yet there are other measures that should be pursued now. The US should engage not only with Myanmar’s leaders, but also with a wide range of groups inside the country to encourage the dialogue necessary to bring about national reconciliation of the military, democracy groups and non-Burmese nationalities. The removal by the US of some non-economic sanctions designed to restrict official bilateral interaction is welcome, and an even greater relaxation in communications, through both official and unofficial channels, should be implemented. Expanding such channels, especially during a period of potential political change, will strengthen US leverage.
To reach the Burmese people directly, the US should continue to develop and scale up assistance programs, while preserving cross-border assistance. Assistance to non-governmental organizations should be expanded, and US assistance also should be targeted toward small farmers and small and medium-sized businesses. Educational exchanges under the Fulbright and Humphrey Scholar programs and cultural outreach activities should be increased. These programs produce powerful agents for community development in Myanmar and can significantly improve the prospects for better governance.
US policy should shift to a more robust phase if Myanmar’s leaders begin to relax political restrictions, institute economic reforms and advance human rights. If there is no movement on these fronts, there will likely be pressure in the US for tightening sanctions. If there is no recourse but to pursue stronger sanctions, the US should coordinate with others, including the EU and ASEAN, to impose targeted financial and banking measures to ensure that military leaders and their associates cannot evade the impact of what otherwise would be less-effective unilateral sanctions.
If a different scenario emerges, it should open the way for a much more active US role in assisting with capacity building, governance training and international efforts to encourage economic reforms. One priority should be the development of an appropriate mechanism for ensuring that revenues from the sale of natural gas are properly accounted for, repatriated and allocated to meet urgent national needs.
In adjusting its policy toward Myanmar, the US must face reality with a clear vision of what its foreign policy can achieve. US influence in Myanmar is unlikely to outweigh that of increasingly powerful Asian neighbors. Therefore, the US should make collaboration with other key stakeholders, particularly ASEAN, the UN and Myanmar’s neighbors — including China, India and Japan — the centerpiece of its policy.
In every respect, conditions in Myanmar are among the most dire of any country in the world and it will take decades, if not generations, to reverse current downward trends and create a foundation for a sustainable and viable democratic government and a prosperous society. The US needs to position itself to respond effectively and flexibly to the twists and turns that a potential transition in Myanmar may take over time, with an eye toward pressing the Burmese leadership to move in positive directions.
Wesley K. Clark is a Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Relations. Henrietta H. Fore is a former administrator of USAID. Both are co-chairs of the Asia Society-sponsored Task Force on US Policy Toward Myanmar. Suzanne DiMaggio is director of Policy Studies at the Asia Society.
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VOA News - US Skeptical About Burmese Military Resignations
David Gollust | State Department 04 May 2010
The United States on Tuesday expressed doubt that the decision by key members of Burma's military government to resign their military posts will make elections planned for later this year any fairer.
Officials here say the decision by several Burmese officials to transform themselves into civilians has not changed U.S. skepticism about the election plans of the country's military rulers.
Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein and some 20 other cabinet ministers announced late last month that they were resigning from their military posts and forming a new political party.
Under a new constitution backed by the military, which has run the country since 1962, the military government is to be replaced by civilian rule and an elected parliament through a popular vote sometime later this year.
The State Department said in March that the election plans, which assure a continued heavy role in government by the military, make a "mockery" of the democratic process and guarantee that the vote will lack credibility.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said the resignations of Thien Sein and other cabinet members from the military could be seen as a positive step.
But he said what is really needed is for the government to open up "real political space" - not only for ex-generals, but to all of those who want to participate constructively in Burmese society.
"As we said recently, we regret the election law - that it fell short of international standards," he said. "Burma has to open up political space. It has to have a meaningful dialogue with all of its ethnic groups within Burma. If these individuals, in transforming themselves from generals to civilians, can open up that political space, then we would truly see that as a positive step."
Under the widely criticized 2008 constitution, 25 percent of the seats in the new parliament are reserved for the military.
Domestic critics of the government say the decision by cabinet members to resign from the military, and potentially stand for election, might be an effort to insure that considerably more than a quarter of the parliament will effectively be military-controlled.
The last elections in Burma, in 1990, were won overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, or NLD, which was never allowed to take office.
The NLD is boycotting the elections because of rules that exclude key members from running, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Laureate who remains under detention as she has been most of the time since the 1990 vote.
The Obama administration came to office hoping that engagement could help prod Burma's rulers toward reform.
Despite U.S. criticism of the election plans, a senior official here says another visit to Burma by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Kurt Campbell is being considered, although no decision has been made.
Campbell, the highest-level U.S. official to visit Burma in several years, went there last November for talks with government leaders and was allowed to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.
David Gollust | State Department 04 May 2010
The United States on Tuesday expressed doubt that the decision by key members of Burma's military government to resign their military posts will make elections planned for later this year any fairer.
Officials here say the decision by several Burmese officials to transform themselves into civilians has not changed U.S. skepticism about the election plans of the country's military rulers.
Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein and some 20 other cabinet ministers announced late last month that they were resigning from their military posts and forming a new political party.
Under a new constitution backed by the military, which has run the country since 1962, the military government is to be replaced by civilian rule and an elected parliament through a popular vote sometime later this year.
The State Department said in March that the election plans, which assure a continued heavy role in government by the military, make a "mockery" of the democratic process and guarantee that the vote will lack credibility.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said the resignations of Thien Sein and other cabinet members from the military could be seen as a positive step.
But he said what is really needed is for the government to open up "real political space" - not only for ex-generals, but to all of those who want to participate constructively in Burmese society.
"As we said recently, we regret the election law - that it fell short of international standards," he said. "Burma has to open up political space. It has to have a meaningful dialogue with all of its ethnic groups within Burma. If these individuals, in transforming themselves from generals to civilians, can open up that political space, then we would truly see that as a positive step."
Under the widely criticized 2008 constitution, 25 percent of the seats in the new parliament are reserved for the military.
Domestic critics of the government say the decision by cabinet members to resign from the military, and potentially stand for election, might be an effort to insure that considerably more than a quarter of the parliament will effectively be military-controlled.
The last elections in Burma, in 1990, were won overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, or NLD, which was never allowed to take office.
The NLD is boycotting the elections because of rules that exclude key members from running, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Laureate who remains under detention as she has been most of the time since the 1990 vote.
The Obama administration came to office hoping that engagement could help prod Burma's rulers toward reform.
Despite U.S. criticism of the election plans, a senior official here says another visit to Burma by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Kurt Campbell is being considered, although no decision has been made.
Campbell, the highest-level U.S. official to visit Burma in several years, went there last November for talks with government leaders and was allowed to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.
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The Irrawaddy - Navy Officers Accused of Extortion
By MOE SAT - Tuesday, May 4, 2010
MERGUI, Burma — Burmese navy officers based in southern Burma are allegedly making large sums of money by extorting diesel fuel from fishing vessels operating in the Andaman Sea.
A Mergui fishing operator say Burmese navy vessels from Tanintharyi naval base in southern Burma routinely intercept fishing boats and demand up to 200 gallons of their fuel. If the boat has insufficient fuel they take a share of its catch, the source said. "They know what kind of fish are expensive. If you insist, you will be in trouble, face beating or intimidation,” he said.
The navy's artillery company based at Zalone Island opposite Mergui is reputed to be the worst offender. The navy's battalion No. 49 stationed at Mali Island and other bases such as Thingan Aw, Mon-Tone Gyi, Lin Lon and Kan Mon are also involved in the extortion, local fishermen and businessman say.
Mergui, also known as Myeik, is located on the Andaman Sea coast, in Tanintharyi Division, in the extreme south of the country. The fishing industry is a major source of revenue.
One Mergui businessman claimed that navy officers can make up to one billion kyat (US $1,000,000) in one six-month tour of duty by engaging in extortion.
By MOE SAT - Tuesday, May 4, 2010
MERGUI, Burma — Burmese navy officers based in southern Burma are allegedly making large sums of money by extorting diesel fuel from fishing vessels operating in the Andaman Sea.
A Mergui fishing operator say Burmese navy vessels from Tanintharyi naval base in southern Burma routinely intercept fishing boats and demand up to 200 gallons of their fuel. If the boat has insufficient fuel they take a share of its catch, the source said. "They know what kind of fish are expensive. If you insist, you will be in trouble, face beating or intimidation,” he said.
The navy's artillery company based at Zalone Island opposite Mergui is reputed to be the worst offender. The navy's battalion No. 49 stationed at Mali Island and other bases such as Thingan Aw, Mon-Tone Gyi, Lin Lon and Kan Mon are also involved in the extortion, local fishermen and businessman say.
Mergui, also known as Myeik, is located on the Andaman Sea coast, in Tanintharyi Division, in the extreme south of the country. The fishing industry is a major source of revenue.
One Mergui businessman claimed that navy officers can make up to one billion kyat (US $1,000,000) in one six-month tour of duty by engaging in extortion.
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The Irrawaddy - Junta's Local Militias on High Alert
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
MAE SOT, Thailand — Burmese military officials have told junta-controlled local militias in Myawaddy Township to be on high alert following the expiration on April 28 of the deadline for armed ethnic militias to join the junta's border guard force (BGF).
According to members of local, junta-controlled militias in Myawaddy Township on the Thai-Burma border, Brig-Gen Kyaw Myint, from the Directorate of the People's Militia and Frontier Forces, held a meeting with representatives of the local militias on April 29 at the headquarters of the No. 275 Light Infantry Battalion.
Kyaw Myint told the local militia groups to be on high alert in their respective areas of eastern Karen State, a militia member from Myawaddy told The Irrawaddy.
“Gen Kyaw Myint confirmed that the Karen Peace Council and the New Mon State Party have officially rejected the BGF transformation, and some DKBA troops have not clearly said whether they will join the BGF, so militias around Myawaddy have to be ready when the fire starts,” he said.
According to unconfirmed reports from Myawaddy Township, three battalions from the Burmese Army passed through Myawaddy early this week on their way to areas in Kyarinseik Gyi Township, which is controlled by DKBA Brigade 5.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
MAE SOT, Thailand — Burmese military officials have told junta-controlled local militias in Myawaddy Township to be on high alert following the expiration on April 28 of the deadline for armed ethnic militias to join the junta's border guard force (BGF).
According to members of local, junta-controlled militias in Myawaddy Township on the Thai-Burma border, Brig-Gen Kyaw Myint, from the Directorate of the People's Militia and Frontier Forces, held a meeting with representatives of the local militias on April 29 at the headquarters of the No. 275 Light Infantry Battalion.
Kyaw Myint told the local militia groups to be on high alert in their respective areas of eastern Karen State, a militia member from Myawaddy told The Irrawaddy.
“Gen Kyaw Myint confirmed that the Karen Peace Council and the New Mon State Party have officially rejected the BGF transformation, and some DKBA troops have not clearly said whether they will join the BGF, so militias around Myawaddy have to be ready when the fire starts,” he said.
According to unconfirmed reports from Myawaddy Township, three battalions from the Burmese Army passed through Myawaddy early this week on their way to areas in Kyarinseik Gyi Township, which is controlled by DKBA Brigade 5.
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The Irrawaddy - Tight Censorship on Reporting USDP
By WAI MOE - Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Burma’s censorship board is keeping a tight control on reporting about the junta’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) led by Prime Minister Thein Sein in private journals.
Journalists in Rangoon said the censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division under the Ministry of Information, does not allow any questioning on the controversial formation of Thein Sein’s USDP, which was formed directly from the state mass organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).
“Any critical questions on the formation of the USDP in journals have been removed by the censorship board,” said an editor with a Rangoon journal who requested anonymity, “But all positive writing is allowed.”
“Indirect mention or quotes in journals that contrast the formation of the USDP under Prime Minster Thein Sein with the election law have been taken out,” he said, adding that journals had published news related to the USDP on both front and inside pages this week.
However, journalists in Rangoon said reporting that the USDP is the prime minister’s party was not allowed in front page reporting. The censorship board also removed any comments about the 2008 Constitution clause that bans government officials’ involvement in political parties.
Thein Sein’s formation of a political party is controversial because analysts say he broke the junta's own Political Party Registration Law’s chapter 4 (D) and chapter 7 (D), which bar government officials from forming political parties and using government property.
Political observers in Rangoon said the junta could practice double standards regardless, and some government sources argue that Thein Sein and other ministers are no longer government officials because they have resigned their military commissions and only play a political role.
Three days before the USDP applied to the Union Election Commission under Thein Sein’s leadership on April 29, the war office announced his retirement and that of 22 other military officials.
Despite the controversy over the junta’s USDP, the election commission approved its application along with nine other parties on Tuesday, according to an announcement in state-run-newspapers on Wednesday.
“Among the groups that submitted applications to set up political parties, the UEC [Union Election Commission] passed the following parties to set up political parties today as they are found to be in accord with Political Parties Registration Law and Rules,” reported The New Light of Myanmar.
The USDP is expected to contest all constituencies amounting to 75 percent of the total 1,158 seats of the union parliament as well as parliaments of states and divisions in Burma in the coming election later this year.
A quarter of Burma’s parliaments will be reserved for military officials appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Thursday is the deadline for the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and other remaining parties in the 1990 elections to prolong their existence by registering their parties with the current election commission.
The international community and Burmese are waiting to see whether the junta will crackdown on the opposition following the deadline for the NLD led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which decided to avoid party registration in late March.
Officials from the Ministry of Information have called local journalists to a press conference in Naypyidaw on Thursday, which could mainly focus on recent bombings in Burma including the New Year festival blast in Rangoon.
The USDP party issue, the fate of the NLD and the junta’s other steps toward the election may also be on the press conference agenda.
By WAI MOE - Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Burma’s censorship board is keeping a tight control on reporting about the junta’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) led by Prime Minister Thein Sein in private journals.
Journalists in Rangoon said the censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division under the Ministry of Information, does not allow any questioning on the controversial formation of Thein Sein’s USDP, which was formed directly from the state mass organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).
“Any critical questions on the formation of the USDP in journals have been removed by the censorship board,” said an editor with a Rangoon journal who requested anonymity, “But all positive writing is allowed.”
“Indirect mention or quotes in journals that contrast the formation of the USDP under Prime Minster Thein Sein with the election law have been taken out,” he said, adding that journals had published news related to the USDP on both front and inside pages this week.
However, journalists in Rangoon said reporting that the USDP is the prime minister’s party was not allowed in front page reporting. The censorship board also removed any comments about the 2008 Constitution clause that bans government officials’ involvement in political parties.
Thein Sein’s formation of a political party is controversial because analysts say he broke the junta's own Political Party Registration Law’s chapter 4 (D) and chapter 7 (D), which bar government officials from forming political parties and using government property.
Political observers in Rangoon said the junta could practice double standards regardless, and some government sources argue that Thein Sein and other ministers are no longer government officials because they have resigned their military commissions and only play a political role.
Three days before the USDP applied to the Union Election Commission under Thein Sein’s leadership on April 29, the war office announced his retirement and that of 22 other military officials.
Despite the controversy over the junta’s USDP, the election commission approved its application along with nine other parties on Tuesday, according to an announcement in state-run-newspapers on Wednesday.
“Among the groups that submitted applications to set up political parties, the UEC [Union Election Commission] passed the following parties to set up political parties today as they are found to be in accord with Political Parties Registration Law and Rules,” reported The New Light of Myanmar.
The USDP is expected to contest all constituencies amounting to 75 percent of the total 1,158 seats of the union parliament as well as parliaments of states and divisions in Burma in the coming election later this year.
A quarter of Burma’s parliaments will be reserved for military officials appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Thursday is the deadline for the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and other remaining parties in the 1990 elections to prolong their existence by registering their parties with the current election commission.
The international community and Burmese are waiting to see whether the junta will crackdown on the opposition following the deadline for the NLD led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which decided to avoid party registration in late March.
Officials from the Ministry of Information have called local journalists to a press conference in Naypyidaw on Thursday, which could mainly focus on recent bombings in Burma including the New Year festival blast in Rangoon.
The USDP party issue, the fate of the NLD and the junta’s other steps toward the election may also be on the press conference agenda.
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Thai army readies refugee ‘protection’ areas
Tuesday, 04 May 2010 22:03 Daniel Pedersen
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – The Thai army has established “protection” areas close to the Burmese border near Mae Sot, anticipating a flood of refugees as Burma’s ruling military junta prepares for elections this year.
As many as 10,000 Burmese are soon expected to be driven across the Thai border by troops of the State Peace and Development Council, the Burmese generals’ official name for their ruling junta.
As the ethnic minority armies reject the junta’s demands they declare themselves Border Guard Forces, thereby transforming into government-led militias, the fighting and the fleeing begins.
Already Mon State residents are clustering on the Burmese side of the border, having made it across Karen State. For the time being they are holed up in an internally-displaced-persons camp known as Halockhani.
The Thai army has been monitoring a major military build-up on the Burmese side and has interpreted it as a massing of troops for a major offensive. So convinced are the Thais of the coming offensive that two areas have been selected to shelter people displaced by the fighting, one to Mae Sot’s north, the other to the south.
The area in the south, Walay sub-district, in Phop Phra district, Tak province, is opposite a former Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) base, Wah Lay Kee, lost to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) last year. The other is at Kokko, the district slated for a new bridge across the Moei River between Burma and Thailand.
Walay backs onto the KNLA’s Sixth Brigade region, while Kokko is opposite the KNLA’s Seventh Brigade.
This time, the Thai army has made it clear there will be no permanent structures established to shelter people and those fleeing fighting will be expected to return home. Lessons have been learned from last year’s DKBA offensive to Mae Sot’s north, when thousands of people landed on the Thai side in nebulous clusters spread across hundreds of miles. As many as 6,000 people landed in Thailand in a short period and several significant KNLA base camps were lost to the DKBA.
At that time – in June, July and August – Thai authorities initially agreed with NGOs operating out of Mae Sot that an entirely new camp might have to be built because of the huge numbers of people fleeing fighting. But while a few potential sites were surveyed a new camp was never allowed because of security threats posed by either DKBA or SPDC troops.
The new rules put in place by the Thais will certainly eliminate any attraction to the temporary camps. No water tanks or new toilets will be allowed.
People fleeing fighting more than 60 miles (100 kilometres) from the border will not be allowed to cross into Thailand. Access to the two refugee zones will be extremely limited, with Thai soldiers having the final say about who may cross the border for temporary security.
Anyone thought to have links to the KNU or the DKBA is banned from crossing, and no new arrivals will be permitted access to the existing refugee camps in Thailand.
Tuesday, 04 May 2010 22:03 Daniel Pedersen
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – The Thai army has established “protection” areas close to the Burmese border near Mae Sot, anticipating a flood of refugees as Burma’s ruling military junta prepares for elections this year.
As many as 10,000 Burmese are soon expected to be driven across the Thai border by troops of the State Peace and Development Council, the Burmese generals’ official name for their ruling junta.
As the ethnic minority armies reject the junta’s demands they declare themselves Border Guard Forces, thereby transforming into government-led militias, the fighting and the fleeing begins.
Already Mon State residents are clustering on the Burmese side of the border, having made it across Karen State. For the time being they are holed up in an internally-displaced-persons camp known as Halockhani.
The Thai army has been monitoring a major military build-up on the Burmese side and has interpreted it as a massing of troops for a major offensive. So convinced are the Thais of the coming offensive that two areas have been selected to shelter people displaced by the fighting, one to Mae Sot’s north, the other to the south.
The area in the south, Walay sub-district, in Phop Phra district, Tak province, is opposite a former Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) base, Wah Lay Kee, lost to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) last year. The other is at Kokko, the district slated for a new bridge across the Moei River between Burma and Thailand.
Walay backs onto the KNLA’s Sixth Brigade region, while Kokko is opposite the KNLA’s Seventh Brigade.
This time, the Thai army has made it clear there will be no permanent structures established to shelter people and those fleeing fighting will be expected to return home. Lessons have been learned from last year’s DKBA offensive to Mae Sot’s north, when thousands of people landed on the Thai side in nebulous clusters spread across hundreds of miles. As many as 6,000 people landed in Thailand in a short period and several significant KNLA base camps were lost to the DKBA.
At that time – in June, July and August – Thai authorities initially agreed with NGOs operating out of Mae Sot that an entirely new camp might have to be built because of the huge numbers of people fleeing fighting. But while a few potential sites were surveyed a new camp was never allowed because of security threats posed by either DKBA or SPDC troops.
The new rules put in place by the Thais will certainly eliminate any attraction to the temporary camps. No water tanks or new toilets will be allowed.
People fleeing fighting more than 60 miles (100 kilometres) from the border will not be allowed to cross into Thailand. Access to the two refugee zones will be extremely limited, with Thai soldiers having the final say about who may cross the border for temporary security.
Anyone thought to have links to the KNU or the DKBA is banned from crossing, and no new arrivals will be permitted access to the existing refugee camps in Thailand.
*******************************************************
Households near Myitsone ordered to relocate
Tuesday, 04 May 2010 22:32 Salai Han Thar San
New Delhi (Mizzima) – To facilitate construction of the Myitsone hydropower project in Kachin State, residents of two wards in Tan Pare village near the site have been ordered by junta authorities to relocate by the end of May, Kachin Development Network Group’ (KDNG), which monitors the project, said.
“There are six wards in Tan Pare village and No. 1 and 2 wards have been directed to relocate by the end of May. The order was conveyed to the villagers by the Burmese Army and Asia World Company, one of the implementing agencies,” KDNG Chairman Awng Wah told Mizzima.
The six wards in Tan Pare account for about 1,100 people living in 187 houses, situated 26 miles north of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. The villagers earn their livelihood by gardening, farming and providing services to tourists. The Myitsone hydropower plant is being built at the edge of the Tan Pare village.
Tan Pare villagers are to be relocated to houses built by Asia World Company in Kyin Khan and Lone Ka Zuap villages, over 20 miles north of Myitkyina. These houses are low cost 20’x20’ buildings with high clearance from the ground. About 100 houses have been built here.
The local authorities had told the villagers to relocate to the new place but the date was not fixed. After at least 14 bombs exploded at the project site in Myitsone on 17 April they fixed the deadline to relocate.
The regime plans to relocate about 60 villages for the Myitsone project. At the moment it has ordered Ward 1 and 2 in Tan Pare village, which are closest to the project site, to relocate first.
Twenty two village elders from Tan Pare village submitted a 10-point demand to the authorities on 28 September 2009 regarding the relocation order. They asked to be allowed to choose the location and claimed compensation and damages for relocation. But the authorities turned a deaf ear.
The Chinese CPI Company and junta’s No. 1 Ministry of Electrical Power signed an agreement in May 2007 to build the largest hydropower plant in Burma with a generating capacity of 3,600 MW.
While the exact investment in the project is not known it could touch 3.6 billion USD. The power generated will most likely be sold to China where Burma could earn USD 500 million annually, a KNDG report released in 2007 says.
Tuesday, 04 May 2010 22:32 Salai Han Thar San
New Delhi (Mizzima) – To facilitate construction of the Myitsone hydropower project in Kachin State, residents of two wards in Tan Pare village near the site have been ordered by junta authorities to relocate by the end of May, Kachin Development Network Group’ (KDNG), which monitors the project, said.
“There are six wards in Tan Pare village and No. 1 and 2 wards have been directed to relocate by the end of May. The order was conveyed to the villagers by the Burmese Army and Asia World Company, one of the implementing agencies,” KDNG Chairman Awng Wah told Mizzima.
The six wards in Tan Pare account for about 1,100 people living in 187 houses, situated 26 miles north of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. The villagers earn their livelihood by gardening, farming and providing services to tourists. The Myitsone hydropower plant is being built at the edge of the Tan Pare village.
Tan Pare villagers are to be relocated to houses built by Asia World Company in Kyin Khan and Lone Ka Zuap villages, over 20 miles north of Myitkyina. These houses are low cost 20’x20’ buildings with high clearance from the ground. About 100 houses have been built here.
The local authorities had told the villagers to relocate to the new place but the date was not fixed. After at least 14 bombs exploded at the project site in Myitsone on 17 April they fixed the deadline to relocate.
The regime plans to relocate about 60 villages for the Myitsone project. At the moment it has ordered Ward 1 and 2 in Tan Pare village, which are closest to the project site, to relocate first.
Twenty two village elders from Tan Pare village submitted a 10-point demand to the authorities on 28 September 2009 regarding the relocation order. They asked to be allowed to choose the location and claimed compensation and damages for relocation. But the authorities turned a deaf ear.
The Chinese CPI Company and junta’s No. 1 Ministry of Electrical Power signed an agreement in May 2007 to build the largest hydropower plant in Burma with a generating capacity of 3,600 MW.
While the exact investment in the project is not known it could touch 3.6 billion USD. The power generated will most likely be sold to China where Burma could earn USD 500 million annually, a KNDG report released in 2007 says.
*******************************************************
DVB News - Thailand detains 100 Mon migrants
By MAUNG TOO
Published: 5 May 2010
Around 100 ethnic Mon migrants from eastern Burma were detained in Thailand’s Sangkhlaburi district on Monday after illegally entering the country.
A Mon resident at the Thai-Burma border said that the migrants crossed the border into Thailand from Phayathonsu (or Three Pagodas Pass) in Karen state, close to Mon state, to look for work.
“They attempted to go past Sangkhlaburi by travelling on foot through the jungle and were caught by Thai police and the army,” said the resident.
The arrested were 40 men and 63 women, all residents of Mon state’s Mudon, Moulmein, Thanphyuzayat and Kyeikmayaw townships. The resident said that the migration of people from Mon state into Thailand to escape harsh living conditions in Burma has now become a “tradition”.
“It’s hard in Burma and jobs are not as good as in Thailand. Normally [migrants] go back to visit their villages around the time of Thingyan [annual water festival in April] and then return to Thailand afterwards,” he said.
“Leaving to find jobs in Thailand has become a tradition here. Thailand has better living standards and facilities.” He added that there are hundreds of thousands of Mon migrant workers in Thailand.
Figures on the total number of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are not clear, but estimates range from two to three million. Despite widespread flouting of labour rights, average wages for migrant workers in Thailand are normally higher than the $US220 average annual salary in Burma.
The majority of these work in low-income industries such as fishing and construction, while their lack of legal status makes it hard for them to access education and healthcare. The Burmese government announced in November last year that Burmese nationals living abroad would be required remit half their salaries through a state-owned bank, which would likely be taxed.
A recent agreement between the Burmese and Thai governments to register migrant workers in Thailand came under fire largely because it required migrants to return to Burma to be registered by authorities there. Migrant rights groups warned that those who returned could face intimidation by government officials.
Last week hundreds of Mon refugees fled to the Halockhani camp on the Thai-Burma border after a Mon ceasefire group rejected proposals by the Burmese government to transform into a border guard force. The furore surrounding the border guard issue holds the potential to destabilise many of Burma’s already volatile border regions.
By MAUNG TOO
Published: 5 May 2010
Around 100 ethnic Mon migrants from eastern Burma were detained in Thailand’s Sangkhlaburi district on Monday after illegally entering the country.
A Mon resident at the Thai-Burma border said that the migrants crossed the border into Thailand from Phayathonsu (or Three Pagodas Pass) in Karen state, close to Mon state, to look for work.
“They attempted to go past Sangkhlaburi by travelling on foot through the jungle and were caught by Thai police and the army,” said the resident.
The arrested were 40 men and 63 women, all residents of Mon state’s Mudon, Moulmein, Thanphyuzayat and Kyeikmayaw townships. The resident said that the migration of people from Mon state into Thailand to escape harsh living conditions in Burma has now become a “tradition”.
“It’s hard in Burma and jobs are not as good as in Thailand. Normally [migrants] go back to visit their villages around the time of Thingyan [annual water festival in April] and then return to Thailand afterwards,” he said.
“Leaving to find jobs in Thailand has become a tradition here. Thailand has better living standards and facilities.” He added that there are hundreds of thousands of Mon migrant workers in Thailand.
Figures on the total number of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are not clear, but estimates range from two to three million. Despite widespread flouting of labour rights, average wages for migrant workers in Thailand are normally higher than the $US220 average annual salary in Burma.
The majority of these work in low-income industries such as fishing and construction, while their lack of legal status makes it hard for them to access education and healthcare. The Burmese government announced in November last year that Burmese nationals living abroad would be required remit half their salaries through a state-owned bank, which would likely be taxed.
A recent agreement between the Burmese and Thai governments to register migrant workers in Thailand came under fire largely because it required migrants to return to Burma to be registered by authorities there. Migrant rights groups warned that those who returned could face intimidation by government officials.
Last week hundreds of Mon refugees fled to the Halockhani camp on the Thai-Burma border after a Mon ceasefire group rejected proposals by the Burmese government to transform into a border guard force. The furore surrounding the border guard issue holds the potential to destabilise many of Burma’s already volatile border regions.
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