ABC Radio Australia - IAEA to investigate Burma's nuclear program
Updated June 30, 2010 20:43:24
It's been a rumour for years but now the international nuclear watchdog has formally turned its attention to Burma. The International Atomic Energy Agency is understood to be investigating a report, written by one of its own former directors. The document draws on a new dossier of material which was smuggled out of Burma, by a Burmese weapons expert. The IAEA has approached the Burmese regime asking it to explain why it appears to be manufacturing parts for nuclear weapons.
Presenter: Jeff Waters
Speakers: Robert Kelly, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency
Updated June 30, 2010 20:43:24
It's been a rumour for years but now the international nuclear watchdog has formally turned its attention to Burma. The International Atomic Energy Agency is understood to be investigating a report, written by one of its own former directors. The document draws on a new dossier of material which was smuggled out of Burma, by a Burmese weapons expert. The IAEA has approached the Burmese regime asking it to explain why it appears to be manufacturing parts for nuclear weapons.
Presenter: Jeff Waters
Speakers: Robert Kelly, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency
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JOE.ie - Horror in Burma
Wed 30th of Jun 2010 at 8:36 am
The teenage faces of the diminutive but heavily armed soldiers standing guard outside the cavernous Defence Services Museum in central Yangon register surprise verging on alarm at the sight of a western visitor.
Cyclone Nargis, which cut through the country back in May 2007 killing at least 78,000 and leaving a further 56,000 missing, decimated tourist figures already hit hard by the ruling military junta’s violent response to the previous year’s pro-democracy protests. Foreigners are now a rarity.
Entry visas are difficult to secure and the authorities have been diligent in their efforts to root out foreign journalists attempting to reveal the extent of the neglect and repression the Burmese struggle under. For westerners who do make it into the country, the junta’s Defence Services Museum is the last place on their list of must-sees.
The formalities conducted at the doorway of the sprawling, mothballed complex consist of a search by an aggressive team of armed soldiers, the seizure of cameras, payment of a fee and the issuance of a visitor pass.
Although the museum was constructed just 17 years ago at a cost of around €6 million, the 60 tattered showrooms that make up its glum interior suggest up-keep funds are limited. The World Bank claims some 40 per cent of Burma’s national budget is spent on its 400,000-strong military, but little of the money appears to filter down to the museum.
Bringing along a local guide means one isn’t assigned from among the uniformed ranks. ‘Pha’ however, is virulently anti-government and as such is nervous about walking into an establishment swarming with military.
A high wall just inside the museum’s main door is decorated with a pyramid of portrait-style photos depicting men in military uniform. It outlines the structure of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the body through which the all-pervading military runs virtually every aspect of the country, and the faces featured are those of its top generals. The benevolent countenance of senior general Than Shwe sits at its pinnacle.
A brief stop to examine the pictures prompts a bout of nervous shuffling, murmuring and gesticulation from the group of soldiers and green-clad staff members standing at the doorway and Pha, sensing the tension, indicates that the tour should proceed.
The dimly-lit ground floor consists mainly of disintegrating exhibits glorifying the exploits of the junta. Stern-faced photos of generals past and present are everywhere, alongside dusty flags and emblems of the country and military.
As we silently wind our way through banks of life-sized model soldiers kneeling around antiquated communications equipment and military transporters, the booted footsteps of the staff member assigned to watch us in the otherwise visitor-free wing are clearly audible over the slap of our flip-flops.
The echoing footfalls remain close by, stopping when ours stop for the duration of our time in the museum, although the individual responsible never comes into view.
Prominently displayed on the ground floor is the landmine exhibit. It features an endless range of grenades, anti-personnel mines and anti-tank charges. Running along the walls are graphic diagrams depicting how to set trip wires, direct blasts and maximise shrapnel spread in order to kill as many people as possible. If you lay a flat stone or a solid piece of metal underneath a trip-wire detonated grenade, the blast will be directed upwards into the face of the person who triggers it, rather than into their legs.
The British military cut across Burma in the 19th Century and after a series of long-remembered battles, a programme of detentions and mass executions quelled remaining dissent. By 1885 the Burmese King had been deposed and the country incorporated into India. By the 1930s however, an independence movement drawn mainly from monks and students and led by the mercurial Aung San, began an armed campaign.
Although the military pioneer was shot along with several members of his cabinet-in-waiting just months short of the final hand-over of power, he is hailed as the father of the nation by the Burmese people. He is also the father of Ang San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning public face of the present day pro-democracy movement currently under house arrest.
Historical exhibits from the time of Aung San proved difficult to locate – they are severely limited and hidden away in a corner of the second floor. There are however, ample exhibits detailing the Yangon City Water Supply System and the nation’s various power plants.
The war the army is locked into against nationalist ethnic minority groups such as the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) fails to merit direct mention in the museum, likewise its campaign against internal dissent which has seen thousands of pro-democracy activists shot or imprisoned since the junta came to power.
A coach-load of stern-faced primary school students arrived for a tour of the facility shortly before we left. The message espoused within the walls of the Defence Services Museum is not often put to adult members of the general public as people rarely visit of their own volition.
Children however, are a different story. According to Pha, the junta obliges schools to bus their students onto the premises to be wowed by the array of tanks, missiles, fighter planes, and impressive claims of the soldiers.
“Burma has a poor human rights record,” says Jo Becker of the Children’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. “But its record on child soldiers is the worst in the world.”
The military is understood to have forcibly recruited children as young as 11 and some 20 per cent of its active duty soldiers are believed to be under 18.
Recruited children are however, unlikely to be driving a tank or flying a fighter plane; youngsters can expect to engage in combat against opposition groups, burn villages, round up villagers for forced labour and even carry out executions.
Human Rights Watch interviewed two former Burmese child soldiers, aged 13 and 15 at the time, who admitted to being part of units which massacred a group of 15 women and children in the restless Shan State in early 2001.
We stroll back outside, hand in our passes and retrieve the confiscated cameras. We leave the children to learn the names of the generals running their ruined country and to examine the exhibitions on how best to lay a land mine.
Pha’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
Wed 30th of Jun 2010 at 8:36 am
The teenage faces of the diminutive but heavily armed soldiers standing guard outside the cavernous Defence Services Museum in central Yangon register surprise verging on alarm at the sight of a western visitor.
Cyclone Nargis, which cut through the country back in May 2007 killing at least 78,000 and leaving a further 56,000 missing, decimated tourist figures already hit hard by the ruling military junta’s violent response to the previous year’s pro-democracy protests. Foreigners are now a rarity.
Entry visas are difficult to secure and the authorities have been diligent in their efforts to root out foreign journalists attempting to reveal the extent of the neglect and repression the Burmese struggle under. For westerners who do make it into the country, the junta’s Defence Services Museum is the last place on their list of must-sees.
The formalities conducted at the doorway of the sprawling, mothballed complex consist of a search by an aggressive team of armed soldiers, the seizure of cameras, payment of a fee and the issuance of a visitor pass.
Although the museum was constructed just 17 years ago at a cost of around €6 million, the 60 tattered showrooms that make up its glum interior suggest up-keep funds are limited. The World Bank claims some 40 per cent of Burma’s national budget is spent on its 400,000-strong military, but little of the money appears to filter down to the museum.
Bringing along a local guide means one isn’t assigned from among the uniformed ranks. ‘Pha’ however, is virulently anti-government and as such is nervous about walking into an establishment swarming with military.
A high wall just inside the museum’s main door is decorated with a pyramid of portrait-style photos depicting men in military uniform. It outlines the structure of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the body through which the all-pervading military runs virtually every aspect of the country, and the faces featured are those of its top generals. The benevolent countenance of senior general Than Shwe sits at its pinnacle.
A brief stop to examine the pictures prompts a bout of nervous shuffling, murmuring and gesticulation from the group of soldiers and green-clad staff members standing at the doorway and Pha, sensing the tension, indicates that the tour should proceed.
The dimly-lit ground floor consists mainly of disintegrating exhibits glorifying the exploits of the junta. Stern-faced photos of generals past and present are everywhere, alongside dusty flags and emblems of the country and military.
As we silently wind our way through banks of life-sized model soldiers kneeling around antiquated communications equipment and military transporters, the booted footsteps of the staff member assigned to watch us in the otherwise visitor-free wing are clearly audible over the slap of our flip-flops.
The echoing footfalls remain close by, stopping when ours stop for the duration of our time in the museum, although the individual responsible never comes into view.
Prominently displayed on the ground floor is the landmine exhibit. It features an endless range of grenades, anti-personnel mines and anti-tank charges. Running along the walls are graphic diagrams depicting how to set trip wires, direct blasts and maximise shrapnel spread in order to kill as many people as possible. If you lay a flat stone or a solid piece of metal underneath a trip-wire detonated grenade, the blast will be directed upwards into the face of the person who triggers it, rather than into their legs.
The British military cut across Burma in the 19th Century and after a series of long-remembered battles, a programme of detentions and mass executions quelled remaining dissent. By 1885 the Burmese King had been deposed and the country incorporated into India. By the 1930s however, an independence movement drawn mainly from monks and students and led by the mercurial Aung San, began an armed campaign.
Although the military pioneer was shot along with several members of his cabinet-in-waiting just months short of the final hand-over of power, he is hailed as the father of the nation by the Burmese people. He is also the father of Ang San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning public face of the present day pro-democracy movement currently under house arrest.
Historical exhibits from the time of Aung San proved difficult to locate – they are severely limited and hidden away in a corner of the second floor. There are however, ample exhibits detailing the Yangon City Water Supply System and the nation’s various power plants.
The war the army is locked into against nationalist ethnic minority groups such as the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) fails to merit direct mention in the museum, likewise its campaign against internal dissent which has seen thousands of pro-democracy activists shot or imprisoned since the junta came to power.
A coach-load of stern-faced primary school students arrived for a tour of the facility shortly before we left. The message espoused within the walls of the Defence Services Museum is not often put to adult members of the general public as people rarely visit of their own volition.
Children however, are a different story. According to Pha, the junta obliges schools to bus their students onto the premises to be wowed by the array of tanks, missiles, fighter planes, and impressive claims of the soldiers.
“Burma has a poor human rights record,” says Jo Becker of the Children’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. “But its record on child soldiers is the worst in the world.”
The military is understood to have forcibly recruited children as young as 11 and some 20 per cent of its active duty soldiers are believed to be under 18.
Recruited children are however, unlikely to be driving a tank or flying a fighter plane; youngsters can expect to engage in combat against opposition groups, burn villages, round up villagers for forced labour and even carry out executions.
Human Rights Watch interviewed two former Burmese child soldiers, aged 13 and 15 at the time, who admitted to being part of units which massacred a group of 15 women and children in the restless Shan State in early 2001.
We stroll back outside, hand in our passes and retrieve the confiscated cameras. We leave the children to learn the names of the generals running their ruined country and to examine the exhibitions on how best to lay a land mine.
Pha’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
*****************************************************
Associated Press of Pakistan
Dhaka shelves plan to explore oil and gas in Bay of Bengal
DHAKA, June 30,(APP)- Bangladesh has shelved for four years its plans to explore oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal because of disputes over maritime boundary with India and Myanmar, according to Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni.
She told the parliament on Wednesday that Bangladesh will get access to its oil and gas resources in the Bay of Bengal in four years.
She said the conflict over territorial waters with India and Myanmar that threatens the rights to exploration would be resolved either by bilateral negotiations or through arbitration.
“We have taken the maritime talks, undertaken by caretaker government, forward and achieved progress in this regard,” Dr Moni told the parliament in response to independent MP Fazlul Azim’s question on her ministry’s initiatives on resolving the sea boundary delimitation.
The minister said the Awami League government moved for arbitration process for settling the maritime disputes with India and Myanmar.
In addition to arbitration move, the minister said, the government also continued bilateral discussions with the two neighbours for amicably settling disagreements.
“We have resources constraints. Hopefully, we will get access to our resources in the Bay of Bengal in three to four years through bilateral talks,” said Dr Dipu Moni.
DHAKA, June 30,(APP)- Bangladesh has shelved for four years its plans to explore oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal because of disputes over maritime boundary with India and Myanmar, according to Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni.
She told the parliament on Wednesday that Bangladesh will get access to its oil and gas resources in the Bay of Bengal in four years.
She said the conflict over territorial waters with India and Myanmar that threatens the rights to exploration would be resolved either by bilateral negotiations or through arbitration.
“We have taken the maritime talks, undertaken by caretaker government, forward and achieved progress in this regard,” Dr Moni told the parliament in response to independent MP Fazlul Azim’s question on her ministry’s initiatives on resolving the sea boundary delimitation.
The minister said the Awami League government moved for arbitration process for settling the maritime disputes with India and Myanmar.
In addition to arbitration move, the minister said, the government also continued bilateral discussions with the two neighbours for amicably settling disagreements.
“We have resources constraints. Hopefully, we will get access to our resources in the Bay of Bengal in three to four years through bilateral talks,” said Dr Dipu Moni.
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The Malay Mail - Five arrested for Myanmar kidnap, ransom recovered
Aizat Sharif
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 19:26:00
KUALA LUMPUR: Police have arrested five people and recovered RM28,000 ransom money in a kidnap case in the city early this month.
On June 8, a Myanmar national woman was kidnapped by four of her countrymen and a local.
Kuala Lumpur police chief DCP Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman, said the victim, who is in her 20s and a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card holder, was kidnapped at around 8pm in Kepong when she was on her way to work at a restaurant.
"She was taken to an undisclosed location in the city where her captors locked her inside a house," said Muhammad Sabtu.
He said the suspects then called the victim's friend and demanded RM100,000 as ransom to be paid for her release.
"The victim's employer then notified the incident to the police. Her friend only managed to paid RM28,000. The victim was only released two days later at an undisclosed location," he said.
Also on the same date, the police launched a massive operation and through the information gathered, they managed to track the suspects and arrest them.
The RM28,000 was also recovered.
"Five of them, including a woman and a local man aged between 20 and 30, were nabbed at the same place at a restaurant in Jalan Silang at the Bukit Bintang area," said Muhammad Sabtu.
Some of the suspects, including the mastermind and a woman, were UNHCR cardholders, too. All of them were believed to have followed the victim's movement for several days before she was kidnapped.
Police are also investigating on the possibility whether the woman was molested during her captive.
"All of them have been remanded and expected to be charged in a short of time," said Muhammad Sabtu.
The case is being investigated under Section 3(1) of the Kidnapping Act 1961, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted.
Aizat Sharif
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 19:26:00
KUALA LUMPUR: Police have arrested five people and recovered RM28,000 ransom money in a kidnap case in the city early this month.
On June 8, a Myanmar national woman was kidnapped by four of her countrymen and a local.
Kuala Lumpur police chief DCP Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman, said the victim, who is in her 20s and a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card holder, was kidnapped at around 8pm in Kepong when she was on her way to work at a restaurant.
"She was taken to an undisclosed location in the city where her captors locked her inside a house," said Muhammad Sabtu.
He said the suspects then called the victim's friend and demanded RM100,000 as ransom to be paid for her release.
"The victim's employer then notified the incident to the police. Her friend only managed to paid RM28,000. The victim was only released two days later at an undisclosed location," he said.
Also on the same date, the police launched a massive operation and through the information gathered, they managed to track the suspects and arrest them.
The RM28,000 was also recovered.
"Five of them, including a woman and a local man aged between 20 and 30, were nabbed at the same place at a restaurant in Jalan Silang at the Bukit Bintang area," said Muhammad Sabtu.
Some of the suspects, including the mastermind and a woman, were UNHCR cardholders, too. All of them were believed to have followed the victim's movement for several days before she was kidnapped.
Police are also investigating on the possibility whether the woman was molested during her captive.
"All of them have been remanded and expected to be charged in a short of time," said Muhammad Sabtu.
The case is being investigated under Section 3(1) of the Kidnapping Act 1961, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted.
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June 30, 2010 19:36 PM
13 Myanmar Nationals Arrested, 0.5Kg Heroin Seized
IPOH, June 30 (Bernama) -- Police have arrested 13 foreigners, including a woman, after confiscating almost half a kilogramme of heroin during a raid at a house in Hutan Melintang, Teluk Intan, about 100km from here Tuesday.
Hilir Perak deputy police chief Supt Muhamad Zaki Harun said the Myanmar nationals, aged between 18 and 40, were watching television when police raided the house at 4.30pm.
"They were surprised to see police and had attempted to escape, but to no avail.
"We then found a box containing seven transparent plastic packets believed to filled with heroin weighing 555gm, and an electronic weighing scale," he said when contacted Wednesday.
Muhamad Zaki said their investigations revealed that the drugs, valued at RM12,000, were for the local market.
The suspects, who were without travel documents and worked as fishermen in Hutan Melintang, were remanded for 14 days starting Wednesday.
13 Myanmar Nationals Arrested, 0.5Kg Heroin Seized
IPOH, June 30 (Bernama) -- Police have arrested 13 foreigners, including a woman, after confiscating almost half a kilogramme of heroin during a raid at a house in Hutan Melintang, Teluk Intan, about 100km from here Tuesday.
Hilir Perak deputy police chief Supt Muhamad Zaki Harun said the Myanmar nationals, aged between 18 and 40, were watching television when police raided the house at 4.30pm.
"They were surprised to see police and had attempted to escape, but to no avail.
"We then found a box containing seven transparent plastic packets believed to filled with heroin weighing 555gm, and an electronic weighing scale," he said when contacted Wednesday.
Muhamad Zaki said their investigations revealed that the drugs, valued at RM12,000, were for the local market.
The suspects, who were without travel documents and worked as fishermen in Hutan Melintang, were remanded for 14 days starting Wednesday.
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Channel NewsAsia - New Tuas water purification plant to boost Singapore's disaster-relief efforts
Posted: 30 June 2010 1809 hrs
SINGAPORE : A new multi-million dollar water purification plant in Tuas later this year is expected to put Singapore on the world map for disaster-relief efforts.
And the Economic Development Board hopes more private sector companies will leverage on Singapore's focus on water development to spur their non-profit initiatives.
When Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in 2008, supplies were scarce, and water was in immediate shortage.
It was pocket-sized water purification packets, called PUR Packets, that helped tide many villagers over.
Geoff Shepherd, director, Humanitarian Emergency Affairs, World Vision (Asia Pacific), said: "In West Sumatra, for instance, we gave them a kit to do it. And they can produce the water within half an hour, so it is quite simple. And we just need to give them a demonstration as we distribute the sachets. So from that perspective, it is really easy."
The powdered solution attracts toxic particles and dirt in contaminated water, pulling them down to the base. After waiting for another 20 minutes, the water is then filtered through a piece of cloth, resulting in a clean cup of drinking water.
To meet increasing demand, its manufacturer is building a new production facility in Singapore.
Deb Henretta, group president, Asia, Procter & Gamble, said: "Singapore is in the heart of Asia. So it provides a fairly central location for us. And since it would be supporting disaster-relief efforts for all of Asia and even extending into Africa, Singapore was a nice location.
"Singapore also has excellent access to air and ocean shipping routes, and that obviously becomes very important, allowing us to get our packets to our NGO and government partners."
Tan Choon Shian, deputy managing director, Singapore Economic Development Board, said: "The business has grown, the technology is useful. And we find that there are countries and cities around Asia that find the solutions from Singapore useful.
"This project, the P&G PUR project, is interesting because it is another dimension of water management. And we will always welcome different kinds of capabilities, different kinds of connectivity that will add to our water-related cluster."
The Tuas water purification plant is expected to produce more than 200 million packets a year - ready to be shipped to Asian and African countries.
Mr Tan said: "Since we are going to invest in the capabilities to take care of our own needs, our own people; if that capability can be leveraged into a business to serve a larger market, from an economics point of view, it makes sense. Also from the point of view of contributing some good to the rest of the world."
Posted: 30 June 2010 1809 hrs
SINGAPORE : A new multi-million dollar water purification plant in Tuas later this year is expected to put Singapore on the world map for disaster-relief efforts.
And the Economic Development Board hopes more private sector companies will leverage on Singapore's focus on water development to spur their non-profit initiatives.
When Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in 2008, supplies were scarce, and water was in immediate shortage.
It was pocket-sized water purification packets, called PUR Packets, that helped tide many villagers over.
Geoff Shepherd, director, Humanitarian Emergency Affairs, World Vision (Asia Pacific), said: "In West Sumatra, for instance, we gave them a kit to do it. And they can produce the water within half an hour, so it is quite simple. And we just need to give them a demonstration as we distribute the sachets. So from that perspective, it is really easy."
The powdered solution attracts toxic particles and dirt in contaminated water, pulling them down to the base. After waiting for another 20 minutes, the water is then filtered through a piece of cloth, resulting in a clean cup of drinking water.
To meet increasing demand, its manufacturer is building a new production facility in Singapore.
Deb Henretta, group president, Asia, Procter & Gamble, said: "Singapore is in the heart of Asia. So it provides a fairly central location for us. And since it would be supporting disaster-relief efforts for all of Asia and even extending into Africa, Singapore was a nice location.
"Singapore also has excellent access to air and ocean shipping routes, and that obviously becomes very important, allowing us to get our packets to our NGO and government partners."
Tan Choon Shian, deputy managing director, Singapore Economic Development Board, said: "The business has grown, the technology is useful. And we find that there are countries and cities around Asia that find the solutions from Singapore useful.
"This project, the P&G PUR project, is interesting because it is another dimension of water management. And we will always welcome different kinds of capabilities, different kinds of connectivity that will add to our water-related cluster."
The Tuas water purification plant is expected to produce more than 200 million packets a year - ready to be shipped to Asian and African countries.
Mr Tan said: "Since we are going to invest in the capabilities to take care of our own needs, our own people; if that capability can be leveraged into a business to serve a larger market, from an economics point of view, it makes sense. Also from the point of view of contributing some good to the rest of the world."
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People's Daily Online - Myanmar-Singapore bilateral trade reaches $1.86 bln
20:07, June 30, 2010
Myanmar-Singapore bilateral trade reached 1.86 billion U.S. dollars in 2009-10 fiscal year which ended in March, according to the latest figures of the government' s Central Statistical Organization.
Of the total, Myanmar's export to Singapore amounted to 671 million dollars, while its import from the Southeast Asian member stood at 1.198 billion dollars, suffering a trade deficit of 4 million dollars.
Singapore rose to the second position from the fifth in Myanmar 's exporting countries line-up after Thailand to replace India, which declined to the third in 2008-09.
Singapore used to export to Myanmar electronic goods, construction materials, fertilizer and steel products.
In 2008-09 fiscal year, the two countries' bilateral trade hit 1.91 billion U.S. dollars, of which Myanmar's export to Singapore took 858.95 million dollars, while its import from Singapore stood 1.05 billion dollar, suffering a trade deficit of 198.96 million dollars.
Myanmar's foreign trade is mainly with Asian countries, which account for 90 percent of the total. The trade with other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) represents 51.3 percent. The remaining are with European countries with 4.8 percent and American countries 1.5 percent.
Myanmar's main export goods are natural gas, agricultural, marine and forestry products, while its key import goods are machinery, crude oil, edible oil, pharmaceutical products, cement, fertilizer and consumers goods.
20:07, June 30, 2010
Myanmar-Singapore bilateral trade reached 1.86 billion U.S. dollars in 2009-10 fiscal year which ended in March, according to the latest figures of the government' s Central Statistical Organization.
Of the total, Myanmar's export to Singapore amounted to 671 million dollars, while its import from the Southeast Asian member stood at 1.198 billion dollars, suffering a trade deficit of 4 million dollars.
Singapore rose to the second position from the fifth in Myanmar 's exporting countries line-up after Thailand to replace India, which declined to the third in 2008-09.
Singapore used to export to Myanmar electronic goods, construction materials, fertilizer and steel products.
In 2008-09 fiscal year, the two countries' bilateral trade hit 1.91 billion U.S. dollars, of which Myanmar's export to Singapore took 858.95 million dollars, while its import from Singapore stood 1.05 billion dollar, suffering a trade deficit of 198.96 million dollars.
Myanmar's foreign trade is mainly with Asian countries, which account for 90 percent of the total. The trade with other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) represents 51.3 percent. The remaining are with European countries with 4.8 percent and American countries 1.5 percent.
Myanmar's main export goods are natural gas, agricultural, marine and forestry products, while its key import goods are machinery, crude oil, edible oil, pharmaceutical products, cement, fertilizer and consumers goods.
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People's Daily Online - Myanmar to increase airport tax next month
20:03, June 30, 2010
The Myanmar aviation authorities will increase the airport tax of the Yangon International Airport to 3,000 Kyats (about 3 U.S. dollars), which is six times the previous rate of 500 kyats, starting July 1 this year, sources with airline industry said on Wednesday.
The new tax rate will be collected for Myanmar citizen passengers taking flights while the original tax rate of 10 dollars for foreign passenger remains unchanged, the sources said.
The raising of the airport tax is due to increased cost for installing new digital machines at the arrival and departure lounges for rapid service, it said.
The annual cost for such formalities is estimated at 300 million kyats (about 300,000 dollars).
Meanwhile, a Myanmar private company -- the Asia World -- will take over the ground handling service of the Yangon International Airport, an earlier report said.
Before the handover of the technical-related business by the airport authorities, two private airlines -- Myanmar Airways International (MAI) and Air Bagan are still handling the ground work.
Yangon International Airport was built in 1957 and the new terminal was constructed in 2003 by the Asia World Company.
Yangon international airport received over 251,800 foreign tourists in the fiscal year 2009-2010, according to statistics.
There is one Myanmar international airline and 13 foreign airlines operating between Yangon and nine destinations, namely Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing via Kunming, Guangzhou, Calcutta, Chiang Mai, Taipei, Doha and Hanoi.
The 13 foreign airlines flying Yangon comprise Air China, China Southern Airlines, Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Silk Air, Malaysian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Mandarin, Jetstar Asia, Phuket Airline, Thai Air Asia and Vietnam Airlines.
20:03, June 30, 2010
The Myanmar aviation authorities will increase the airport tax of the Yangon International Airport to 3,000 Kyats (about 3 U.S. dollars), which is six times the previous rate of 500 kyats, starting July 1 this year, sources with airline industry said on Wednesday.
The new tax rate will be collected for Myanmar citizen passengers taking flights while the original tax rate of 10 dollars for foreign passenger remains unchanged, the sources said.
The raising of the airport tax is due to increased cost for installing new digital machines at the arrival and departure lounges for rapid service, it said.
The annual cost for such formalities is estimated at 300 million kyats (about 300,000 dollars).
Meanwhile, a Myanmar private company -- the Asia World -- will take over the ground handling service of the Yangon International Airport, an earlier report said.
Before the handover of the technical-related business by the airport authorities, two private airlines -- Myanmar Airways International (MAI) and Air Bagan are still handling the ground work.
Yangon International Airport was built in 1957 and the new terminal was constructed in 2003 by the Asia World Company.
Yangon international airport received over 251,800 foreign tourists in the fiscal year 2009-2010, according to statistics.
There is one Myanmar international airline and 13 foreign airlines operating between Yangon and nine destinations, namely Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing via Kunming, Guangzhou, Calcutta, Chiang Mai, Taipei, Doha and Hanoi.
The 13 foreign airlines flying Yangon comprise Air China, China Southern Airlines, Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Silk Air, Malaysian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Mandarin, Jetstar Asia, Phuket Airline, Thai Air Asia and Vietnam Airlines.
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Bru Direct - Bruneian Volunteers Help Myanmar In Post Nargis Project
Written by Azlan Othman Wednesday, 30 June 2010 07:52
Bandar Seri Begawan - Bruneian's were among the 20 volunteers from Asean who supported the three 'Post-Nargis Recovery Projects' implemented by Asean volunteers.
The projects provided livelihood support, disaster risk reduction and access to safe water and sanitation for at least 5,000 households in the Kungyangon, Kwahmu, Labutta and Pyapon Townships.
Funded by Norway and Timor-Leste, the project based activities are community-driven and centred on supporting vulnerable under-assisted communities.
During a presentation ceremony, the Deputy Secretary-General ofAsean for the Asean Socio-Cultural Community, Dato' Misran Karmain, and Asean volunteers with their implementing partners, inaugurated a bridge and distributed boats with engines, water tanks, artesian wells and rice mills to villagers in the Kungyangon Township.
Senior members of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), were also present at the inauguration. The TCG comprises representatives from Asean, the Myanmar government as well as the United Nations.
"Asean is honoured to transfer ownership of the projects to these communities," said Dato' Misran during the ceremony. "The projects have rebuilt people's livelihoods and enhanced their capacity to reduce disaster risks. We hope that these outcomes will be sustained," he added.
The three projects were implemented between November 2009 and June 20I0 by the Border Areas Development Association, Agency for Technical Cooperation and
Development (ACTED), and ActionAid International Myanmar/ Aung Yadanar Social Association, with support from 20 volunteers from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.
Dato' Misran also commended the Asean volunteers for their contribution. "The Asean volunteers from different parts of the region who came to lend a helping hand to the people of Myanmar, have demonstrated the principle of a caring and sharing Asean Community," he said.
"I am proud of them and their active commitment in local capacity building. Their spirit of volunteerism should be promoted across and beyond the region," he added.
Written by Azlan Othman Wednesday, 30 June 2010 07:52
Bandar Seri Begawan - Bruneian's were among the 20 volunteers from Asean who supported the three 'Post-Nargis Recovery Projects' implemented by Asean volunteers.
The projects provided livelihood support, disaster risk reduction and access to safe water and sanitation for at least 5,000 households in the Kungyangon, Kwahmu, Labutta and Pyapon Townships.
Funded by Norway and Timor-Leste, the project based activities are community-driven and centred on supporting vulnerable under-assisted communities.
During a presentation ceremony, the Deputy Secretary-General ofAsean for the Asean Socio-Cultural Community, Dato' Misran Karmain, and Asean volunteers with their implementing partners, inaugurated a bridge and distributed boats with engines, water tanks, artesian wells and rice mills to villagers in the Kungyangon Township.
Senior members of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), were also present at the inauguration. The TCG comprises representatives from Asean, the Myanmar government as well as the United Nations.
"Asean is honoured to transfer ownership of the projects to these communities," said Dato' Misran during the ceremony. "The projects have rebuilt people's livelihoods and enhanced their capacity to reduce disaster risks. We hope that these outcomes will be sustained," he added.
The three projects were implemented between November 2009 and June 20I0 by the Border Areas Development Association, Agency for Technical Cooperation and
Development (ACTED), and ActionAid International Myanmar/ Aung Yadanar Social Association, with support from 20 volunteers from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.
Dato' Misran also commended the Asean volunteers for their contribution. "The Asean volunteers from different parts of the region who came to lend a helping hand to the people of Myanmar, have demonstrated the principle of a caring and sharing Asean Community," he said.
"I am proud of them and their active commitment in local capacity building. Their spirit of volunteerism should be promoted across and beyond the region," he added.
*****************************************************
The Nation - OPINION:The weak points of Burma's ethnic resistance groups
By LT-GENERAL YAWD SERK
FOR MORE than 50 years, the ethnic resistance groups struggling against the Burmese military government have failed to achieve success. To identify the reasons for this failure we need to evaluate our weak points.
First, our love for the nation is mainly dependent on each individual situation and position. We have failed to find a strong unity that would enable us to reach our goal.
Second, on the political front, we laid out different policy objectives, with some groups aiming at a federal Burma and others wanting total independence. These different political ideologies mean we have fought against one another - a fight that has been fuelled by people's lack of political knowledge and a lack of education that means many are easily manipulated.
On the other hand, the educated scholars are reluctant to face the hardship of struggle, and only provide moral support from the shelter of their homes. Very few educated people have made the sacrifice to come out and work for their people.
In addition, many involved in the struggle do not know how to differentiate between friend and foe. Faced with disagreement and disapproval, they break up into small factions and bow to the enemy. They become informants, giving the enemy knowledge of weak points of the resistance groups. They forget who the real enemy is.
Disagreement and argument are a natural part of internal affairs. But whatever the disagreement and however big the argument, we should not break up. We should come face to face, reconcile, compromise and find a way to beat the enemy. This means paying more attention and care to the role of alliances.
In the past, we made alliances not with our hearts but with words. These prioritised the interests of each individual and organisation over the common interest. When the enemy attacked one group, its ally failed to help, because it was not being directly attacked. But if the enemy defeated the first group, its ally would be the next target. This demonstrates that the role of an alliance should be to help one another finish off the enemy.
Third, putting individual ego before the national interest means no unified group can form - there are always splits in the gathering. Fights broke out among the groups over control of territory, but they failed to protect the people or rehabilitate country.
We could not beat the enemy because we were distracted by self-interest and disputes that weakened our unity. It is not the external enemy but the enemy within that has been responsible for the destruction of resistance groups. The lesson is clear: we must work towards reconciliation and building a strong unity via the right policies.
Otherwise, there are too many obstacles on our path to success.
Fourth, if we compare our struggle with that of Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh's, our efforts are no match for his. We need competent political and military leaders as well as educated people. Our people need the capacity to develop.
Shan political parties are unreliable, as most of the politicians are stuck in their houses due to the threats from the enemy. The pressure and threats from the Burmese regime prevent them from laying out the same policies as the armed groups do.
If we adopted the same political ideology of self-determination, and united against the Burmese regime, it would not be difficult to lay out political strategies. But the ethnic minority groups that wanted to become part of a federated Burma have not been able to agree with those who were fighting for total independence. As a result, finding unity has been delayed. If the ethnic Wa, Palung, Pa-O and Lahu groups could accept that ethnic nationalities have lived together peacefully in Shan State since ancient times, then a new federated Shan State is not far away. We can overcome the difficulties and guarantee the rights of the ethnic groups through open discussion.
Fifth, when the armed groups began agreeing ceasefires with the Tatmadaw (Burma's military), they lost political ground. The Burmese regime now has the upper hand in negotiations with them.
The ceasefire groups mistakenly believed that they would be able to talk politics with the regime. In the meantime, they thought they would be able to recruit, boost funds and stockpile weapons. However, the regime has played a clever game, preventing the ceasefire groups reaching both their political and military goals.
The regime offered ceasefire talks for two reasons:
1. The internal political conflict intensified in Burma after Aung San Suu Kyi became more actively involved in the political movement. The regime needed to solve its internal problems first.
2. In 1989, many ethnic armed groups mutinied from the Burma Communist Party led by Thakin Pa Thein Tin. At this point, the regime was afraid that the ethnic groups would form into a single opposition force, so offered ceasefire agreements in return for concessions. The regime was desperate to prevent the groups forming an alliance with Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
(This familiar tactic of the Burmese regime is often characterised thus: "When it is weak it will kneel down and beg for mercy, but when it is strong it will ignore your requests and cut off your begging hands.")
Twenty years on since the policy of ceasefires began, the philosophy of solving political conflicts through political means has not materialised. Some ceasefire groups have abandoned their beliefs after receiving economic privileges from the regime, while others have been left in a dilemma over their political stance. With their political objectives derailed, they are now reacting to the regime's oppression in an ineffective day-to-day way. As a result, lasting peace is even further from their grasp.
Moreover, if the ceasefire groups agree to participate in this year's election or agree to transform into border guard forces, militia or police, their original political objectives will have clearly failed. The 2008 constitution is not accepted by all ceasefire groups but by contesting the election, they will automatically relinquish their political objectives.
Lastly, so far, the ethnic armed groups have only adopted guerrilla tactics in the struggle against the Tatmadaw. A large offensive with military strategy that could match that of the Burmese army has not been carried out. No central command has been formed, and battalions and brigades fail to take commands from their headquarters. In contrast to this weak and ineffective command structure, the battalions of the Burmese army obey orders from above in all cases. We have to face the fact that the Tatmadaw is stronger and better in controlling its troops. Even though the regime's political and human-rights reputation has been shattered, their decades-long grip on power remains strong.
LT-GENERAL YAWD SERK is chairman of the Restoration Council of the Shan State.
By LT-GENERAL YAWD SERK
FOR MORE than 50 years, the ethnic resistance groups struggling against the Burmese military government have failed to achieve success. To identify the reasons for this failure we need to evaluate our weak points.
First, our love for the nation is mainly dependent on each individual situation and position. We have failed to find a strong unity that would enable us to reach our goal.
Second, on the political front, we laid out different policy objectives, with some groups aiming at a federal Burma and others wanting total independence. These different political ideologies mean we have fought against one another - a fight that has been fuelled by people's lack of political knowledge and a lack of education that means many are easily manipulated.
On the other hand, the educated scholars are reluctant to face the hardship of struggle, and only provide moral support from the shelter of their homes. Very few educated people have made the sacrifice to come out and work for their people.
In addition, many involved in the struggle do not know how to differentiate between friend and foe. Faced with disagreement and disapproval, they break up into small factions and bow to the enemy. They become informants, giving the enemy knowledge of weak points of the resistance groups. They forget who the real enemy is.
Disagreement and argument are a natural part of internal affairs. But whatever the disagreement and however big the argument, we should not break up. We should come face to face, reconcile, compromise and find a way to beat the enemy. This means paying more attention and care to the role of alliances.
In the past, we made alliances not with our hearts but with words. These prioritised the interests of each individual and organisation over the common interest. When the enemy attacked one group, its ally failed to help, because it was not being directly attacked. But if the enemy defeated the first group, its ally would be the next target. This demonstrates that the role of an alliance should be to help one another finish off the enemy.
Third, putting individual ego before the national interest means no unified group can form - there are always splits in the gathering. Fights broke out among the groups over control of territory, but they failed to protect the people or rehabilitate country.
We could not beat the enemy because we were distracted by self-interest and disputes that weakened our unity. It is not the external enemy but the enemy within that has been responsible for the destruction of resistance groups. The lesson is clear: we must work towards reconciliation and building a strong unity via the right policies.
Otherwise, there are too many obstacles on our path to success.
Fourth, if we compare our struggle with that of Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh's, our efforts are no match for his. We need competent political and military leaders as well as educated people. Our people need the capacity to develop.
Shan political parties are unreliable, as most of the politicians are stuck in their houses due to the threats from the enemy. The pressure and threats from the Burmese regime prevent them from laying out the same policies as the armed groups do.
If we adopted the same political ideology of self-determination, and united against the Burmese regime, it would not be difficult to lay out political strategies. But the ethnic minority groups that wanted to become part of a federated Burma have not been able to agree with those who were fighting for total independence. As a result, finding unity has been delayed. If the ethnic Wa, Palung, Pa-O and Lahu groups could accept that ethnic nationalities have lived together peacefully in Shan State since ancient times, then a new federated Shan State is not far away. We can overcome the difficulties and guarantee the rights of the ethnic groups through open discussion.
Fifth, when the armed groups began agreeing ceasefires with the Tatmadaw (Burma's military), they lost political ground. The Burmese regime now has the upper hand in negotiations with them.
The ceasefire groups mistakenly believed that they would be able to talk politics with the regime. In the meantime, they thought they would be able to recruit, boost funds and stockpile weapons. However, the regime has played a clever game, preventing the ceasefire groups reaching both their political and military goals.
The regime offered ceasefire talks for two reasons:
1. The internal political conflict intensified in Burma after Aung San Suu Kyi became more actively involved in the political movement. The regime needed to solve its internal problems first.
2. In 1989, many ethnic armed groups mutinied from the Burma Communist Party led by Thakin Pa Thein Tin. At this point, the regime was afraid that the ethnic groups would form into a single opposition force, so offered ceasefire agreements in return for concessions. The regime was desperate to prevent the groups forming an alliance with Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
(This familiar tactic of the Burmese regime is often characterised thus: "When it is weak it will kneel down and beg for mercy, but when it is strong it will ignore your requests and cut off your begging hands.")
Twenty years on since the policy of ceasefires began, the philosophy of solving political conflicts through political means has not materialised. Some ceasefire groups have abandoned their beliefs after receiving economic privileges from the regime, while others have been left in a dilemma over their political stance. With their political objectives derailed, they are now reacting to the regime's oppression in an ineffective day-to-day way. As a result, lasting peace is even further from their grasp.
Moreover, if the ceasefire groups agree to participate in this year's election or agree to transform into border guard forces, militia or police, their original political objectives will have clearly failed. The 2008 constitution is not accepted by all ceasefire groups but by contesting the election, they will automatically relinquish their political objectives.
Lastly, so far, the ethnic armed groups have only adopted guerrilla tactics in the struggle against the Tatmadaw. A large offensive with military strategy that could match that of the Burmese army has not been carried out. No central command has been formed, and battalions and brigades fail to take commands from their headquarters. In contrast to this weak and ineffective command structure, the battalions of the Burmese army obey orders from above in all cases. We have to face the fact that the Tatmadaw is stronger and better in controlling its troops. Even though the regime's political and human-rights reputation has been shattered, their decades-long grip on power remains strong.
LT-GENERAL YAWD SERK is chairman of the Restoration Council of the Shan State.
*****************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Than Shwe Angry about Kelley Report
By WAI MOE - Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Burmese junta supremo, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is reported to be angry at government officials who are responsible for the junta’s nuclear program after he read the report of Robert Kelley, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who described Naypyidaw's nuclear program as “unprofessional” and “quite primitive.”
According to military sources in Naypyidaw, Than Shwe’s vented his anger after he read the report—which was published by Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma—and assumed he had been lied to by officials such as U Thaung, the minister of Science and Technology, who had reported that Burma’s nuclear goal was close to fruition, a claim that Kelley dismissed categorically.
Citing evidence by a defector, Maj Sai Thein Win, Kelley said in his report, “Nuclear Related Activities in Burma,” that the location of the nuclear program is “primarily a headquarters site, and probably does not conduct experiments, at least with nuclear materials or explosives.”
Kelley said Burma's military generals had little hope of success in establishing the country as a nuclear power. “It is clear that this is a very difficult task for Burma to successfully accomplish. Much of what STW [Sai Thein Win] is providing suggests Burma has little chance of succeeding in its quest, but that does not change the fact that even trying to build a bomb is a serious violation of its international agreements,” he wrote in the report.
“It would also seem that the very act of trying to build nuclear weapons is a sign of desperation and fear, no matter how unlikely it is to succeed,” he said.
“The source himself noted that the drawings from the Nuclear Battalion were very unprofessional,” he reported, adding: “This factors into our assessment that the Burmese nuclear program is quite primitive.”
During early days of the Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) rule, headed by dictator Gen Ne Win from 1962 to 1988, government officials regularly failed to report bad news or errors in calculation to the regime chief.
By WAI MOE - Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Burmese junta supremo, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is reported to be angry at government officials who are responsible for the junta’s nuclear program after he read the report of Robert Kelley, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who described Naypyidaw's nuclear program as “unprofessional” and “quite primitive.”
According to military sources in Naypyidaw, Than Shwe’s vented his anger after he read the report—which was published by Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma—and assumed he had been lied to by officials such as U Thaung, the minister of Science and Technology, who had reported that Burma’s nuclear goal was close to fruition, a claim that Kelley dismissed categorically.
Citing evidence by a defector, Maj Sai Thein Win, Kelley said in his report, “Nuclear Related Activities in Burma,” that the location of the nuclear program is “primarily a headquarters site, and probably does not conduct experiments, at least with nuclear materials or explosives.”
Kelley said Burma's military generals had little hope of success in establishing the country as a nuclear power. “It is clear that this is a very difficult task for Burma to successfully accomplish. Much of what STW [Sai Thein Win] is providing suggests Burma has little chance of succeeding in its quest, but that does not change the fact that even trying to build a bomb is a serious violation of its international agreements,” he wrote in the report.
“It would also seem that the very act of trying to build nuclear weapons is a sign of desperation and fear, no matter how unlikely it is to succeed,” he said.
“The source himself noted that the drawings from the Nuclear Battalion were very unprofessional,” he reported, adding: “This factors into our assessment that the Burmese nuclear program is quite primitive.”
During early days of the Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) rule, headed by dictator Gen Ne Win from 1962 to 1988, government officials regularly failed to report bad news or errors in calculation to the regime chief.
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The Irrawaddy - EPCB Sponsors Suu Kyi Play on Birthday
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma (EPCB) has sponsored performances of “The Lady of Burma” in honor of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's detained Noble Peace Prize winner, on her 65th birthday, which was June 19.
The play, an inspirational story of Suu Kyi and her struggle to bring freedom and democracy to Burma, will be performed on Wednesday at the Edinburgh Festival and the Old Vic theater in London.
An EPCB statement on Wednesday said that the performance will raise awareness about Suu Kyi and her struggle for democracy and freedom in Burma and increase support among European Parliament (EU) members.
Raul Romeva, an executive member of the EPCB, said,“As members of the European Parliament, we will continue our support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in her struggle for her country's freedom and do whatever we can to make sure the world does not forget about her and Burma.”
The event will be hosted by Raul Romeva, a EU member, EPCB executive committee members, the vice-chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and Libor Roucke, vice president of the EU.
Meanwhile an EU mission reportedly canceled its scheduled trip to Burma this week after the military junta denied its request to meet with Suu Kyi.
In May, EU officials said that they had plans to send a mission to Burma following the passage of a resolution by the Council of the European Union to undertake a dialogue with the junta.
The EU maintains sanctions on the junta in an effort to influence it to stop human rights abuses and to promote democracy in Burma. The EU has called on the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners including Suu Kyi before the country holds elections this year.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma (EPCB) has sponsored performances of “The Lady of Burma” in honor of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's detained Noble Peace Prize winner, on her 65th birthday, which was June 19.
The play, an inspirational story of Suu Kyi and her struggle to bring freedom and democracy to Burma, will be performed on Wednesday at the Edinburgh Festival and the Old Vic theater in London.
An EPCB statement on Wednesday said that the performance will raise awareness about Suu Kyi and her struggle for democracy and freedom in Burma and increase support among European Parliament (EU) members.
Raul Romeva, an executive member of the EPCB, said,“As members of the European Parliament, we will continue our support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in her struggle for her country's freedom and do whatever we can to make sure the world does not forget about her and Burma.”
The event will be hosted by Raul Romeva, a EU member, EPCB executive committee members, the vice-chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance and Libor Roucke, vice president of the EU.
Meanwhile an EU mission reportedly canceled its scheduled trip to Burma this week after the military junta denied its request to meet with Suu Kyi.
In May, EU officials said that they had plans to send a mission to Burma following the passage of a resolution by the Council of the European Union to undertake a dialogue with the junta.
The EU maintains sanctions on the junta in an effort to influence it to stop human rights abuses and to promote democracy in Burma. The EU has called on the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners including Suu Kyi before the country holds elections this year.
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The Irrawaddy - NDF’s Seal in Controversy
By WAI MOE - Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The official seal of the National Democratic Force (NDF), the party founded by former leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been stirring controversy among many Burmese because it is so similar to the NLD’s well-known logo, the kha mauk, which is a traditional Burmese farmer's hat.
Led by Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the 1990 election, the NLD sailed to a landslide victory with the symbol of the kha mauk visible throughout the country during the campaign.
On Wednesday, Burma’s Union Election Commission (EC) placed in state-run-newspapers an announcement which included pictures of the NDF’s proposed flag and official seal. According to the black-and-white pictures in the newspapers, the flag has two stars, while the seal portrays a kha mauk under two stars—though one is inside the other.
Khin Maung Swe, an NDF leader and former executive member of the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the flag and seal are the new party’s own, and are “not related or anything to do with the NLD's election symbol.”
However, responding to a question on whether voters could confuse the NDF’s symbol with that of the NLD, he said, “Yes, they could. People could be confused.”
According to Khin Maung Swe, the traditional Burmese hat, which is triangular and usually made from palm leaves, was chosen as the party seal because it represents the traditional character of the Burmese people. He said that one star denotes liberation while the other star symbolizes democracy and human rights.
Of the controversy, he said that if people disagree over the party flag and seal, they can complain at the EC office in Naypyidaw.
Several NLD members have voiced opposition to the use of the kha mauk symbol.
Ohn Kyaing, an executive member of the NLD, said, “The NDF’s seal is a kha mauk under two stars. However, a kha mauk is a kha mauk, and it was the recognized logo of the NLD in the last election. In my opinion, they must not cause this kind of confusion among NLD supporters. The kha mauk is the symbol of the NLD's 1990 victory—and it is also the symbol of the people’s victory.”
Ohn Kyaing said the NLD is yet to decide how to respond to the NDF’s use of the controversial symbol, only saying that a response will come in due course.
Observers outside the NLD-NDF grouping also voiced concerns about the use of the kha mauk symbol.
“The kha mauk is synonymous with the NLD,” said an editor with a private Rangoon weekly who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. “People still remember the NLD’s campaign slogans and songs, as well as when so many people were wearing the hat.
“The NDF should not copy the logo,” she said. “In particular, those who have disagreed with the NLD’s policy on the 2010 election must distance themselves from the party.”
Ashin Zawana, an abbot who spent more than 16 years in prison as a political prisoner and who fled to Thailand following his release in late 2009, said the NDF should avoid using any similar signs to the NLD.
“It is kind of tricky,” he said. “A good politician must be honest with voters, not confuse them.”
In May, about 40 Burmese intellectuals sent a letter to the EC complaining about the use of the “fighting peacock” symbol, which is the logo of the Burmese student movements. They claimed it was being used in the flags and seals of two new political parties: the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics, and the 88 Generation Student Union of Myanmar, both of which are led by controversial politicians.
“It's not appropriate to use the student movement's flag as the symbol of a political party,” said prominent journalist Ludu Sein Win, a signatory to the letter of complaint in May.
By WAI MOE - Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The official seal of the National Democratic Force (NDF), the party founded by former leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been stirring controversy among many Burmese because it is so similar to the NLD’s well-known logo, the kha mauk, which is a traditional Burmese farmer's hat.
Led by Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the 1990 election, the NLD sailed to a landslide victory with the symbol of the kha mauk visible throughout the country during the campaign.
On Wednesday, Burma’s Union Election Commission (EC) placed in state-run-newspapers an announcement which included pictures of the NDF’s proposed flag and official seal. According to the black-and-white pictures in the newspapers, the flag has two stars, while the seal portrays a kha mauk under two stars—though one is inside the other.
Khin Maung Swe, an NDF leader and former executive member of the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the flag and seal are the new party’s own, and are “not related or anything to do with the NLD's election symbol.”
However, responding to a question on whether voters could confuse the NDF’s symbol with that of the NLD, he said, “Yes, they could. People could be confused.”
According to Khin Maung Swe, the traditional Burmese hat, which is triangular and usually made from palm leaves, was chosen as the party seal because it represents the traditional character of the Burmese people. He said that one star denotes liberation while the other star symbolizes democracy and human rights.
Of the controversy, he said that if people disagree over the party flag and seal, they can complain at the EC office in Naypyidaw.
Several NLD members have voiced opposition to the use of the kha mauk symbol.
Ohn Kyaing, an executive member of the NLD, said, “The NDF’s seal is a kha mauk under two stars. However, a kha mauk is a kha mauk, and it was the recognized logo of the NLD in the last election. In my opinion, they must not cause this kind of confusion among NLD supporters. The kha mauk is the symbol of the NLD's 1990 victory—and it is also the symbol of the people’s victory.”
Ohn Kyaing said the NLD is yet to decide how to respond to the NDF’s use of the controversial symbol, only saying that a response will come in due course.
Observers outside the NLD-NDF grouping also voiced concerns about the use of the kha mauk symbol.
“The kha mauk is synonymous with the NLD,” said an editor with a private Rangoon weekly who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. “People still remember the NLD’s campaign slogans and songs, as well as when so many people were wearing the hat.
“The NDF should not copy the logo,” she said. “In particular, those who have disagreed with the NLD’s policy on the 2010 election must distance themselves from the party.”
Ashin Zawana, an abbot who spent more than 16 years in prison as a political prisoner and who fled to Thailand following his release in late 2009, said the NDF should avoid using any similar signs to the NLD.
“It is kind of tricky,” he said. “A good politician must be honest with voters, not confuse them.”
In May, about 40 Burmese intellectuals sent a letter to the EC complaining about the use of the “fighting peacock” symbol, which is the logo of the Burmese student movements. They claimed it was being used in the flags and seals of two new political parties: the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics, and the 88 Generation Student Union of Myanmar, both of which are led by controversial politicians.
“It's not appropriate to use the student movement's flag as the symbol of a political party,” said prominent journalist Ludu Sein Win, a signatory to the letter of complaint in May.
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DVB News - Australia expels Burma commander’s daughter
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 30 June 2010
The daughter of a senior Burmese air force commander will be expelled from Australia after Canberra ruled that her stay in the country violated sanctions on Burma.
Zin Mon Aye, an accountancy student at the University of Western Sydney, had an appeal over her stay in Australia rejected and will likely return to Burma within days, The Australian newspaper said. Her father, Brigadier-General Zin Yaw, is commander of the Mingalardon air base, one of Burma’s largest military airfields.
Australia is party to sanctions on Burma that target individuals deemed to have close ties to the ruling junta.
The 25-year-old was first targeted by the Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith in 2008, along with her brother, Htet Aung. The newspaper said that she had launched a
series of appeals over the past two years, claiming that she was estranged from her father and had no financial ties to him.
Zetty Brake, spokesperson for Burma Campaign Australia (BCA), said it was hard to tell whether the claims made by Zin Mon Aye and her lawyers were true.
“However the sanctions list is very much targeted towards individuals and it’s not a blanket list; it’s meant to target people who are benefitting from the brutal repression in Burma,” she said. “In that case, [Zin Mon Aye’s expulsion] is very fair because these are people who are specifically named and targeted for that reason.”
While Australia’s sanctions on Burma are comprehensive, the country has been criticised for not pushing an embargo far enough. In April this year BCA alleged that bilateral trade between the two countries had risen more than three-fold since early 2009, with a subsidiary of Australian company Twinza Oil still operating in the country.
Danford Equities Corporation signed a contract with the Burmese state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in November 2006 to explore for oil in Burma. According to BCA, the deal will net the ruling junta around $US2.5 billion.
But campaigners scored a victory earlier in October after Australian clothing chain, Speciality Fashion Group (SFG), announced it would stop sourcing products from Burma.
Brake said said that there were still “a number of steps the Australian government could be taking to have a stronger sanctions regime”, particularly targeting the oil and gas industry which would have a “minimal impact on ordinary citizens of Burma”.
The majority of produce from Burma’s vast natural energy sector, particularly gas and hydropower, is sold to neighbouring countries, despite the country being plagued by terminal electricity shortages.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 30 June 2010
The daughter of a senior Burmese air force commander will be expelled from Australia after Canberra ruled that her stay in the country violated sanctions on Burma.
Zin Mon Aye, an accountancy student at the University of Western Sydney, had an appeal over her stay in Australia rejected and will likely return to Burma within days, The Australian newspaper said. Her father, Brigadier-General Zin Yaw, is commander of the Mingalardon air base, one of Burma’s largest military airfields.
Australia is party to sanctions on Burma that target individuals deemed to have close ties to the ruling junta.
The 25-year-old was first targeted by the Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith in 2008, along with her brother, Htet Aung. The newspaper said that she had launched a
series of appeals over the past two years, claiming that she was estranged from her father and had no financial ties to him.
Zetty Brake, spokesperson for Burma Campaign Australia (BCA), said it was hard to tell whether the claims made by Zin Mon Aye and her lawyers were true.
“However the sanctions list is very much targeted towards individuals and it’s not a blanket list; it’s meant to target people who are benefitting from the brutal repression in Burma,” she said. “In that case, [Zin Mon Aye’s expulsion] is very fair because these are people who are specifically named and targeted for that reason.”
While Australia’s sanctions on Burma are comprehensive, the country has been criticised for not pushing an embargo far enough. In April this year BCA alleged that bilateral trade between the two countries had risen more than three-fold since early 2009, with a subsidiary of Australian company Twinza Oil still operating in the country.
Danford Equities Corporation signed a contract with the Burmese state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in November 2006 to explore for oil in Burma. According to BCA, the deal will net the ruling junta around $US2.5 billion.
But campaigners scored a victory earlier in October after Australian clothing chain, Speciality Fashion Group (SFG), announced it would stop sourcing products from Burma.
Brake said said that there were still “a number of steps the Australian government could be taking to have a stronger sanctions regime”, particularly targeting the oil and gas industry which would have a “minimal impact on ordinary citizens of Burma”.
The majority of produce from Burma’s vast natural energy sector, particularly gas and hydropower, is sold to neighbouring countries, despite the country being plagued by terminal electricity shortages.
*****************************************************
DVB News - Rodent ‘migration’ sparks disaster fears
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 30 June 2010
An apparent mass migration of mice away from waterways in central Burma has caused locals to question whether a natural disaster is looming.
Mice are moving “in their thousands” away from lakes and reservoirs in central Burma’s Bago and Mandalay division and towards urban areas. One man reporting seeing fleets of mice on the Mandalay-to-Naypyidaw highway.
A local in Bago division’s Dike Oo township said that outlying villages had witnessed terns of thousands of mice leave the areas close to Kawliya and Bawni reservoirs and head towards villages.
“They looked like they were migrating. They have white fur on their chest and are running with their tails straight; they looked as if they were running for their lives,” he said.
“We don’t know whether this [is a sign of] a weather disaster, natural disaster or damaged reservoir. But elderly people are saying the mice are fleeing from a disaster of some sort. Now is not yet [the time of the year] for disasters but the mice were running for their lives.”
Migration of animals is closely tied to weather patterns, but evidence of mass movement being a forewarning of natural disasters is less clear. Famously, a freak migration of hundreds of thousands of frogs in central China in early May 2008 pre-empted the country’s worst earthquake in a generation.
Dike Oo residents said the arrival of mice would have little impact on farming as late rains have delayed the growing of crops, although there had been some damage to bean plants.
Locals also expressed concern about the possible spread of diseases, with one man claiming that Burmese authorities had done little to tackle the problem.
An ongoing famine in Burma’s northwestern Chin state has been exacerbated in recent years by the bi-centurial flowering of bamboo plants, which attracts rats in their millions.
Thousands of acres of crops have been lost in Chin state since the flowering began in 2007. The Canada-based Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) said that the fallout from the last mass bamboo flowering in Burma reportedly caused the deaths of 10,000 to 15,000 in India’s neighbouring Mizoram state. The UN claims that Chin state needs around 23,000 tons of food aid to counter the famine.
Similarly, in September last year the UN warned of the potential damage to crop harvests in Burma’s southern Irrawaddy delta from a rodent infestation. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Burmese government had instructed farmers to kill up to 15 rats per day, and submit their tails to local authorities, or risk being fined.
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 30 June 2010
An apparent mass migration of mice away from waterways in central Burma has caused locals to question whether a natural disaster is looming.
Mice are moving “in their thousands” away from lakes and reservoirs in central Burma’s Bago and Mandalay division and towards urban areas. One man reporting seeing fleets of mice on the Mandalay-to-Naypyidaw highway.
A local in Bago division’s Dike Oo township said that outlying villages had witnessed terns of thousands of mice leave the areas close to Kawliya and Bawni reservoirs and head towards villages.
“They looked like they were migrating. They have white fur on their chest and are running with their tails straight; they looked as if they were running for their lives,” he said.
“We don’t know whether this [is a sign of] a weather disaster, natural disaster or damaged reservoir. But elderly people are saying the mice are fleeing from a disaster of some sort. Now is not yet [the time of the year] for disasters but the mice were running for their lives.”
Migration of animals is closely tied to weather patterns, but evidence of mass movement being a forewarning of natural disasters is less clear. Famously, a freak migration of hundreds of thousands of frogs in central China in early May 2008 pre-empted the country’s worst earthquake in a generation.
Dike Oo residents said the arrival of mice would have little impact on farming as late rains have delayed the growing of crops, although there had been some damage to bean plants.
Locals also expressed concern about the possible spread of diseases, with one man claiming that Burmese authorities had done little to tackle the problem.
An ongoing famine in Burma’s northwestern Chin state has been exacerbated in recent years by the bi-centurial flowering of bamboo plants, which attracts rats in their millions.
Thousands of acres of crops have been lost in Chin state since the flowering began in 2007. The Canada-based Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) said that the fallout from the last mass bamboo flowering in Burma reportedly caused the deaths of 10,000 to 15,000 in India’s neighbouring Mizoram state. The UN claims that Chin state needs around 23,000 tons of food aid to counter the famine.
Similarly, in September last year the UN warned of the potential damage to crop harvests in Burma’s southern Irrawaddy delta from a rodent infestation. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Burmese government had instructed farmers to kill up to 15 rats per day, and submit their tails to local authorities, or risk being fined.
*****************************************************
Canada urged to probe Ivanhoe over ‘arms-for-copper’ deal
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:41 Thomas Maung Shwe
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Canadian Friends of Burma has called on the government of Canada to investigate reports first made by Mizzima that Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines violated Canadian sanctions by allowing its 50 per cent stake in Burma’s largest mine, the Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Limited (MICCL), to be sold to junta cronies closely connected with Chinese business interests late last year.
CFOB executive director Tin Maung Htoo told Mizzima his organisation was also calling on the Canadian government to probe Ivanhoe’s role in what CFOB called the “arms-for-copper” howitzer (artillery guns) deal. The deal was first reported by the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), in which the Burmese regime was alleged to have exchanged copper from Monywa for howitzers built by Chinese weapon’s manufacturer China North Industries Corporation (Norinco).
Norinco, revealed on its web site last week that early this month its chairman, Zhang Guoqing, had signed the “Monywa Copper Mine Project Co-operation Contract” with Major-General Win Than of the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, which Burma analysts document is a profit vehicle that provides secondary incomes for ruling military junta personnel and their families.
While the Norinco release omitted details of the Monywa agreement, DVB reported yesterday that it had learned from sources that several weeks prior to the official signing ceremony senior members of the Burmese regime visited China to “check on the shipments” of SH-1 155mm self-propelled howitzer cannons made by Norinco. The howitzer vehicles were then sent to Burma.
Jane’s Defence Weekly reported online that the SH-1 is a self-contained six-wheeled truck bearing the 155mm howitzer and a 12.7mm machine gun. It has a top road speed of 90km/h and the artillery piece has a maximum range of 33 miles (53 kilometres).
Analysts contacted by DVB speculated that the howitzers were exchanged for copper from Monywa. CFOB’s Tin Maung Htoo said these latest allegations were extremely disturbing but very credible, pointing out that senior executives from Daewoo were convicted in a Korean court for helping the Burmese regime build a weapons factory as part of a deal to pave the way for Daewoo’s access to Burma’s offshore gas.
“The Norinco arms-for-copper deal is a win-win for both China and Burma; the weapons manufacturer gets cheap copper and the Burmese regime gets howitzers to use against its own people,” Tin Maung Htoo said. “Sadly, more innocent civilians will die because of this; we can thank Ivanhoe Mines and its chairman Robert Friedland for building one of ‘the lowest-cost copper mines in the world’ for the Burmese regime.”
Tin Maung Htoo told CFOB that his organisation was preparing an official letter to be sent to the sanctions division at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He added that it would also send a letter to Marketa Evans, the department’s recently appointed extractive sector corporate social responsibility counsellor. Evans’ office is mandated to investigate whether Canadian firms comply with a set of voluntary corporate social responsibility guidelines.
The exact status of the Monywa mine has remained unclear since February 2007 when Ivanhoe announced it had “sold” its 50 per cent stake in MICCL, the operator of Burma’s largest mine, to an “independent third-party trust” in return for a guarantee that when the trust sold the stake, Ivanhoe would then be paid.
As part of the trust deal Ivanhoe continued to receive money from the mine and by way of the trust remained owners of half of MICCL. Ivanhoe Mines spokesperson Bob Williamson told Mizzima last week that the secretive “independent trust” had not sold Ivanhoe’s 50 per cent stake in the mine. Mizzima learned however from a source close to Burmese commercial affairs that the “independent trust” had concluded a deal at the end of last year to sell its stake in MICCL to Burmese cronies of the military regime who have strong connections to Chinese business interests.
If indeed Ivanhoe’s stake in the lucrative Monywa joint venture was sold to junta cronies this would contradict Ivanhoe’s claim that the “independent trust” would not sell the stake to Burmese or American citizens. More importantly, such a sale would also violate US and Canadian sanctions.
In light of the apparent violation of Canadian sanctions Tin Maung Htoo also believes Canadian authorities must confront Ivanhoe and force the firm to publicly disclose everything it knows about Monywa and seriously examine whether any violation of Canadian sanctions has occurred. He added: “Ivanhoe can’t hide behind their secret trust forever; Canadian civil society and the Canadian public won’t allow it.”
Ivanhoe chairman ‘Toxic Bob’
Before he went into business with the Burmese regime, Ivanhoe chairman Robert Friedland was chief executive of Galactic Resources, a Canadian firm that operated the Summitville gold mine in Colorado during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Under his management, tens of thousands of gallons of toxic mining waste containing heavy metals and acid seeped from the mine’s ponds into creeks and the Alamosa River causing havoc with the area’s delicate ecosystem. The run-off from the mine killed all fish in the river for at least 17 miles (27 kilometres), thus earning Friedland the name “Toxic Bob”.
Friedland’s lawyers fought American officials for nearly 10 years before he agreed in December 2000 to personally pay US$27.5 million for his role in the disaster. The payment however represented a fraction of the mine’s total clean-up cost and the profits his company had made. The US and Colorado governments have so far spent a combined total of more than US$200 million on remediation at Summitville. It is often referred to as the most expensive environmental disaster in American mining.
Before it was closed, the mine had extracted at today’s prices, US$366 million in gold and about US$5.9 million in silver.
Friedland versus the Mongolian people
Ivanhoe is presently constructing a massive mine at its new project in Oyu Tolgoi, Mongolia. Because of the enormous ecological footprint the joint venture with Rio Tinto and the Mongolian government will create, many Mongolians are strongly opposed to it.
Friedland also earned the ire of Mongolians when the local media reported that while promoting Oyu Tolgoi at an international mining conference in Florida, he had boasted that Mongolia was a great location for a mine because it was devoid of people. According to Friedland: “The nice thing about this, there’s no people around … There’s no NGOs … You’ve got lots of room for waste dumps without disrupting the population.”
Unsurprisingly, he was later burned in effigy at an anti-Ivanhoe protest in the Mongolian capital in April 2006, one of the largest mass gatherings in the nation’s history.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:41 Thomas Maung Shwe
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Canadian Friends of Burma has called on the government of Canada to investigate reports first made by Mizzima that Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines violated Canadian sanctions by allowing its 50 per cent stake in Burma’s largest mine, the Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Limited (MICCL), to be sold to junta cronies closely connected with Chinese business interests late last year.
CFOB executive director Tin Maung Htoo told Mizzima his organisation was also calling on the Canadian government to probe Ivanhoe’s role in what CFOB called the “arms-for-copper” howitzer (artillery guns) deal. The deal was first reported by the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), in which the Burmese regime was alleged to have exchanged copper from Monywa for howitzers built by Chinese weapon’s manufacturer China North Industries Corporation (Norinco).
Norinco, revealed on its web site last week that early this month its chairman, Zhang Guoqing, had signed the “Monywa Copper Mine Project Co-operation Contract” with Major-General Win Than of the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, which Burma analysts document is a profit vehicle that provides secondary incomes for ruling military junta personnel and their families.
While the Norinco release omitted details of the Monywa agreement, DVB reported yesterday that it had learned from sources that several weeks prior to the official signing ceremony senior members of the Burmese regime visited China to “check on the shipments” of SH-1 155mm self-propelled howitzer cannons made by Norinco. The howitzer vehicles were then sent to Burma.
Jane’s Defence Weekly reported online that the SH-1 is a self-contained six-wheeled truck bearing the 155mm howitzer and a 12.7mm machine gun. It has a top road speed of 90km/h and the artillery piece has a maximum range of 33 miles (53 kilometres).
Analysts contacted by DVB speculated that the howitzers were exchanged for copper from Monywa. CFOB’s Tin Maung Htoo said these latest allegations were extremely disturbing but very credible, pointing out that senior executives from Daewoo were convicted in a Korean court for helping the Burmese regime build a weapons factory as part of a deal to pave the way for Daewoo’s access to Burma’s offshore gas.
“The Norinco arms-for-copper deal is a win-win for both China and Burma; the weapons manufacturer gets cheap copper and the Burmese regime gets howitzers to use against its own people,” Tin Maung Htoo said. “Sadly, more innocent civilians will die because of this; we can thank Ivanhoe Mines and its chairman Robert Friedland for building one of ‘the lowest-cost copper mines in the world’ for the Burmese regime.”
Tin Maung Htoo told CFOB that his organisation was preparing an official letter to be sent to the sanctions division at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He added that it would also send a letter to Marketa Evans, the department’s recently appointed extractive sector corporate social responsibility counsellor. Evans’ office is mandated to investigate whether Canadian firms comply with a set of voluntary corporate social responsibility guidelines.
The exact status of the Monywa mine has remained unclear since February 2007 when Ivanhoe announced it had “sold” its 50 per cent stake in MICCL, the operator of Burma’s largest mine, to an “independent third-party trust” in return for a guarantee that when the trust sold the stake, Ivanhoe would then be paid.
As part of the trust deal Ivanhoe continued to receive money from the mine and by way of the trust remained owners of half of MICCL. Ivanhoe Mines spokesperson Bob Williamson told Mizzima last week that the secretive “independent trust” had not sold Ivanhoe’s 50 per cent stake in the mine. Mizzima learned however from a source close to Burmese commercial affairs that the “independent trust” had concluded a deal at the end of last year to sell its stake in MICCL to Burmese cronies of the military regime who have strong connections to Chinese business interests.
If indeed Ivanhoe’s stake in the lucrative Monywa joint venture was sold to junta cronies this would contradict Ivanhoe’s claim that the “independent trust” would not sell the stake to Burmese or American citizens. More importantly, such a sale would also violate US and Canadian sanctions.
In light of the apparent violation of Canadian sanctions Tin Maung Htoo also believes Canadian authorities must confront Ivanhoe and force the firm to publicly disclose everything it knows about Monywa and seriously examine whether any violation of Canadian sanctions has occurred. He added: “Ivanhoe can’t hide behind their secret trust forever; Canadian civil society and the Canadian public won’t allow it.”
Ivanhoe chairman ‘Toxic Bob’
Before he went into business with the Burmese regime, Ivanhoe chairman Robert Friedland was chief executive of Galactic Resources, a Canadian firm that operated the Summitville gold mine in Colorado during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Under his management, tens of thousands of gallons of toxic mining waste containing heavy metals and acid seeped from the mine’s ponds into creeks and the Alamosa River causing havoc with the area’s delicate ecosystem. The run-off from the mine killed all fish in the river for at least 17 miles (27 kilometres), thus earning Friedland the name “Toxic Bob”.
Friedland’s lawyers fought American officials for nearly 10 years before he agreed in December 2000 to personally pay US$27.5 million for his role in the disaster. The payment however represented a fraction of the mine’s total clean-up cost and the profits his company had made. The US and Colorado governments have so far spent a combined total of more than US$200 million on remediation at Summitville. It is often referred to as the most expensive environmental disaster in American mining.
Before it was closed, the mine had extracted at today’s prices, US$366 million in gold and about US$5.9 million in silver.
Friedland versus the Mongolian people
Ivanhoe is presently constructing a massive mine at its new project in Oyu Tolgoi, Mongolia. Because of the enormous ecological footprint the joint venture with Rio Tinto and the Mongolian government will create, many Mongolians are strongly opposed to it.
Friedland also earned the ire of Mongolians when the local media reported that while promoting Oyu Tolgoi at an international mining conference in Florida, he had boasted that Mongolia was a great location for a mine because it was devoid of people. According to Friedland: “The nice thing about this, there’s no people around … There’s no NGOs … You’ve got lots of room for waste dumps without disrupting the population.”
Unsurprisingly, he was later burned in effigy at an anti-Ivanhoe protest in the Mongolian capital in April 2006, one of the largest mass gatherings in the nation’s history.
*****************************************************
‘Noynoy’ Aquino: New hope for Democracy in Asean
Thursday, 01 July 2010 00:15 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - “People Power” finally returned to the Philippines this morning as family, supporters and colleagues of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, and at least 500,000 Filipinos, gathered in heavy rain for his inauguration as the 15th president of the republic.
His campaign slogans of national reconciliation and fighting corruption and poverty will be key to his six years in office. Two Burmese pro-democracy activists joined the historic event; National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) general-secretary Maung Maung and foreign affairs chief Nyo Ohn Myint were among the international delegates.
“Here, on this day, ends the reign of a government that is indifferent to the complaints of the people,” Aquino said during his 21-minute speech.
“There can be no reconciliation without justice,” he said to the cheers of the crowds filling Quirino Grandstand in Manila, referring to his plans to set up a commission to investigate corruption, especially allegations against his immediate predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, of vote-rigging and abuse of power.
His late mother, 11th president Corazon Aquino, supported Burma for a decade, but he must feel a tinge of bitterness at the absence of his late father, Benigno Aquino, Jr, who was shot dead as he exited a plane on his return from three years’ exile in the United States. Sixteen men were later sentenced to life in prison over the killing. His father had served seven years in detention under president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos period before fleeing the country.
After her husband’s death, Aquino led the opposition in a crusade against the abuses and excesses of Marcos’ martial rule. In late 1985, when Marcos called for a snap election, Aquino challenged his regime, joining the political fray only after one million signatures urged her to run for president. When Marcos was proclaimed winner in the 1986 polls, Aquino called for massive civil disobedience against him. Filipinos rallied behind her in massive street protests involving at least two million people, eventually joined by the army in Manila, which led to Marcos fleeing to the US. The uprising is known as the People Power Revolution.
The People Power movement turned the Philippines into a democratic country.
Following the death of his mother in August last year, many people urged Benigno to run for president and using his parents’ symbol of the People Power movement, Aquino’s signature campaign attracted a majority of voters, helping him win by a landslide in the elections early this month.
History has returned after 24 years, and thousands of Filipinos public celebrated their realised dreams yesterday.
His foreign policy would suit democracy movements in Asian countries, Nyo Ohn Myint said. At least one of Aquino’s deputies was very familiar with Burma’s long democratic struggle and the two secretariat members from the NCUB would lobby him for support in the cause of democracy for Burma, he said.
His Liberal Party nominated Aung San Suu Kyi as an honorary member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, a regional organisation of liberal and democratic political parties in Asia.
Suu Kyi’s famous quote “Use your liberty to help ours” is in one of his late mother’s unfinished tasks, which Burmese pro-democracy supporters hope he will take up.
Thursday, 01 July 2010 00:15 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - “People Power” finally returned to the Philippines this morning as family, supporters and colleagues of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, and at least 500,000 Filipinos, gathered in heavy rain for his inauguration as the 15th president of the republic.
His campaign slogans of national reconciliation and fighting corruption and poverty will be key to his six years in office. Two Burmese pro-democracy activists joined the historic event; National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) general-secretary Maung Maung and foreign affairs chief Nyo Ohn Myint were among the international delegates.
“Here, on this day, ends the reign of a government that is indifferent to the complaints of the people,” Aquino said during his 21-minute speech.
“There can be no reconciliation without justice,” he said to the cheers of the crowds filling Quirino Grandstand in Manila, referring to his plans to set up a commission to investigate corruption, especially allegations against his immediate predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, of vote-rigging and abuse of power.
His late mother, 11th president Corazon Aquino, supported Burma for a decade, but he must feel a tinge of bitterness at the absence of his late father, Benigno Aquino, Jr, who was shot dead as he exited a plane on his return from three years’ exile in the United States. Sixteen men were later sentenced to life in prison over the killing. His father had served seven years in detention under president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos period before fleeing the country.
After her husband’s death, Aquino led the opposition in a crusade against the abuses and excesses of Marcos’ martial rule. In late 1985, when Marcos called for a snap election, Aquino challenged his regime, joining the political fray only after one million signatures urged her to run for president. When Marcos was proclaimed winner in the 1986 polls, Aquino called for massive civil disobedience against him. Filipinos rallied behind her in massive street protests involving at least two million people, eventually joined by the army in Manila, which led to Marcos fleeing to the US. The uprising is known as the People Power Revolution.
The People Power movement turned the Philippines into a democratic country.
Following the death of his mother in August last year, many people urged Benigno to run for president and using his parents’ symbol of the People Power movement, Aquino’s signature campaign attracted a majority of voters, helping him win by a landslide in the elections early this month.
History has returned after 24 years, and thousands of Filipinos public celebrated their realised dreams yesterday.
His foreign policy would suit democracy movements in Asian countries, Nyo Ohn Myint said. At least one of Aquino’s deputies was very familiar with Burma’s long democratic struggle and the two secretariat members from the NCUB would lobby him for support in the cause of democracy for Burma, he said.
His Liberal Party nominated Aung San Suu Kyi as an honorary member of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, a regional organisation of liberal and democratic political parties in Asia.
Suu Kyi’s famous quote “Use your liberty to help ours” is in one of his late mother’s unfinished tasks, which Burmese pro-democracy supporters hope he will take up.
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