News & Articles on Burma, Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Jul 15th, 2009
NLD Reorganizes Information Committee
Than Shwe and Family Make Offerings at Shwedagon Pagoda
Ban Should Now Tackle Burma’s Constitution, Says Opposition
US, France and Britain seeks Suu Kyi’s release
Daewoo led consortium to invest US$ 3 billion in Burma
Myanmar authorities seize nearly one ton of heroin
Myanmar coordinates with Thailand on recruiting new workers
Guarded praise for Burma jail amnesty plan
Suu Kyi’s party sceptical on amnesty claim
Ban: UN awaits response from Burma on democratic reform
Mission failure?
Some jobs at risk, post-AEC
Burma looking at freeing prisoners
87-year-old opposition member imprisoned
Democracy politician jailed
Burmese army troops defect to Karen group
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NLD Reorganizes Information Committee
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The opposition National League for Democracy has appointed new spokespersons to respond to questions from the media and to discuss party policy issues.
The NLD appointed new Central Information Committee members on July 10, naming seven members: Khin Maung Swe, Ohn Kyaing, Nyan Win, Thein Nyunt, Sein Hla Oo, Han Thar Myint, and Win Naing.
Spokesman Nyan Win of the National League for Democracy, as well as one of the lawyers of Aung San Suu Kyi, speaks to reporters at the party headquarters in Rangoon. (Photo: Reuters)
The seven members will be responsible for statements and comments about party issues and policy.
“Our aim is to make the information procedure more active and intellectual. Releasing fast information and news about the party is our objective,” Khin Maung Swe said.
The party reformed the committee because a former party spokesperson, Aung Shwe, who is also party chairman, is on leave for health reasons while a second spokesman, U Lwin, the party secretary, is ill.
The new committee was formed based on the agreement of the NLD’s Central Executive Committees, said Khin Maung Swe, the group’s leader.
The reform will create one voice on behalf of the NLD, said Win Naing, a member of the Central Information Committee. “We will even consider carefully a single word in a policy statement,” he said.
The Central Information Committee will also be responsible for updating information, such as the number of detained NLD members and abuses against party members.
Khin Maung Swe, the committee leader, is an NLD executive member and an elected member of parliament from Sanchaung Township in the 1990 election. He was among 9,002 prisoners who were released in 2008.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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Than Shwe and Family Make Offerings at Shwedagon Pagoda
By MIN LWIN Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his wife Kyaing Kyaing reportedly visited Rangoon’s Shwedagon Pagoda on three successive mornings this week, with symbolic offerings of 35 small, flower-covered pagoda replicas.
The visits, witnessed by traders and pilgrims at Rangoon’s most famous pagoda, came as rumors circulated in Burma’s former capital that the junta’s No 2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, and five senior military generals are trying to persuade Than Shwe to retire.
Photo taken May 1, 2009, shows workers as they fix an element during maintenance work at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. (Photo: Getty Images)
Other Than Shwe family members helped carry the 1-foot high pagoda replicas. The models were covered in flowers, including sunflowers—which are named nay kyar in Burmese, meaning “long life.”
A shopkeeper at the Shwedagon Pagoda compound said Than Shwe and the other members of his party placed the replicas at eight special posts, each adorned with a symbolic figure representing an individual planet, erected around the Shwedagon Pagoda.
A local astrologer said the ceremony was linked to Than Shwe’s belief, shared by his wife, in the power of yadaya, or magic, to ward off ill luck. “Than Shwe is in trouble, so he tried to avoid his fate,” said the astrologer, on condition of anonymity.
The visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda—ignored by the official media—followed a well-publicized visit to the historic Danok Pagoda, near Rangoon, on May 7, when members of Than Shwe’s family hoisted a hti, or sacred umbrella, to the top of the structure. Weeks later, on May 30, the pagoda collapsed, killing several workers.
The military government blamed the pagoda’s collapse on renovation work at the pagoda site.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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NEWS ANALYSIS
Ban Should Now Tackle Burma’s Constitution, Says Opposition
By WAI MOE Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Opposition parties in Burma say UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon didn’t go far enough in urging the military regime to ensure that the 2010 general election is “credible, inclusive and legitimate.”
The UN chief should also have addressed demands to rewrite the constitution drawn up by the regime and enacted in 2008, they say.
Nyan Win, spokesman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that even if the 2010 election were to be “free and fair”—as the regime had promised—“the 2008 constitution is undemocratic.”
The NLD disagreed with Ban on this point, Nyan Win said.
The regime claimed the 2008 constitution had been approved by more than 90 percent of voters in a national referendum held shortly after the Cyclone Nargis in May that year. Critics say the constitution had been drafted by handpicked official representatives and that the referendum was anything but free and fair.
The constitution reserves 25 percent of seats in both houses of a new parliament for military representatives, appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
It also bars any person married to a foreigner from serving as president of the country. Furthermore, presidents must have military experience.
Both restrictions rule out the possibility of Aung San Suu Kyi ever taking office. “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is definitely banned from becoming president under the 2008 constitution,” Nyan Win said.
Burma’s largest ceasefire groups—the Wa, Kachin, Kokang and Mon—also take issue with the constitution, which reserves 25 percent of the seats in state or regional assemblies for non-elected military representatives. The commander-in-chief of the armed forces will have power to abolish the parliaments of ethnic states and autonomous regions.
In a joint letter to the Chinese government, Wa and Kachin leaders said they wanted the 2008 constitution amended because it failed to respect the truth of political history and perpetuated the Burman centric long-term political distrust towards ethnic minorities.
“Mr Ban Ki-moon’s election proposals are totally out of touch with stakeholders in Burmese politics,” said Aye Thar Aung, an Arakan leader and secretary of the Arakan League for Democracy. “The greatest difficulty for Burma’s democracy process is now the constitutional crisis.”
Aye Thar Aung said the UN’s Burma efforts should now be directed at making sure the constitution enshrined democratic principles and ethnic minority rights.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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Wednesday,15 July 2009 12:2 hrs IST
US, France and Britain seeks Suu Kyi’s release
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Lalit K Jha Washington: US, Britain and France expressed disappointment over Burma’s failure to address concerns of the international community to restore democracy in the country and called on the military junta to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi “immediately and unconditionally.”
Participating in a debate on Burma inside the UN Security Council Tuesday after the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon briefed the 15-membered body on his recent visit to the country, US Britain and France asked the junta to match its words with actions.
“As 2010 approaches, the government has repeatedly assured us that next year’s elections will be free and fair. But there can be no free and fair elections while key leaders of Burma’s democratic opposition-including Aung San Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners-languish in Burma’s prisons,” Rosemary A DiCarlo, the US Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs, said.
“We are deeply concerned about these proceedings. We call on the regime to cease its actions against Aung San Suu Kyi and to free her immediately and unconditionally,” DiCarlo said.
She said the Burmese authorities are not respecting the popular will by putting the leader of the country’s democratic opposition on trial for spurious charges.
Authorities continue to resist addressing the grave human rights challenges facing the country, she added.
The british deputy ambassador, philip parham, said the Burmese military junta must understand that their roadmap and the elections they plan will have no credibility if political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are prevented from playing their full part in the political process.
Noting that Ban’s visit was an opportunity for the Burmese Government to transform its relationship with the international community, Parham said the regime’s failure to take this opportunity has only served to isolate it further.
“We can only hope that we may yet see progress in the coming days; it is not too late. But if it does not come, and if we see an unjust outcome in Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial, the international community will need to follow the Secretary-General’s lead and respond robustly,” he said.
Hitting hard at the Burmese regime, the French ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said far from initiating a dialogue with political parties and ethnic groups, the junta has unilaterally implemented a road map which had led to increased politicization.
“Not only has the Government done nothing to meet the Council’s demands, it had taken decisions to counter those demands. A genuine process of national reconciliation was a precondition of which the release of Aung San Suu Kyi is an essential part,” he said.
“The Council must respond firmly if she was found guilty, but inaction must not be the price of its unity,” Ripert said.
http://www.manoramaonline.com/
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Daewoo led consortium to invest US$ 3 billion in Burma
by Solomon
Tuesday, 14 July 2009 21:48
New Delhi (Mizzima) – A consortium of companies led by South Korea’s Daewoo International will invest over US$ 3 billion in gas production in the West Coast of Burma.
A Daewoo International official in Seoul told Mizzima on Tuesday that the company and its partners – Korean Gas, India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) – plan to invest over US $ 3 billion for production of gas from the offshore Shwe Gas fields in Western Burma.
“We have only estimated over US$ 3 billion. Actually we have not decided yet, so I can’t say how much we are going to invest,” the official told Mizzima.
The Block A1 and A3 of the offshore Gas fields in Western Arakan State is being jointly developed by Daewoo International with 60 per cent share, ONGC with 20 per cent share, GAIL with 10 per cent and KOGAS another 10 per cent.
On June 15, the consortium including Myanmar Gas and Oil Enterprise (MOGE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to sell gas from blocks A1 and A3 to China through the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
According to an ONGC report, the Shwe and Shwe Phyu fields from block A1 is estimated to have natural gas reserves of 3.83 TCF and Block A3 of Mya field has about 1.52 TCF.
Daewoo said it expects a profit of over US$ 10 billion for a contract period of 25 to 30 years. Following the project agreement with CNPC, Daewoo said the sales of gas might begin as early as 2012.
While the companies and the Burmese junta have a smooth working agreement, rights groups and activists including environmentalists have given vent to their concern over the project implementation saying it lacks proper assessment and does not incorporate the losses that will be incurred by local residents.
Wong Aung, a member of the Shwe Gas Campaign based in Thailand urged the companies including Daewoo, to reconsider their plans to continue with their business, with the current military rulers, as it will negatively impact the local people.
“They [the companies] should not only invest in oil and gas, rather they should think of investing in sectors such as education, health, electricity and transportation, which are vital for the people,” said Wong Aung.
His argument is that while extracting natural gas could constitute a positive development, under the current military rulers, Burmese people often find their rights abused when projects including gas exploration takes place in their region.
“There are no benefits for the local people. All benefits goes to the military government and the locals suffer and struggle because of the project,” he added.
He said it is sad but true that Burma’s neighbouring country including India, Thailand and China are increasingly interested in investing in Burma while largely ignoring the pleas of the people, who are supposedly the rightful owners of the natural reserves.
He said building gas pipelines have become a major concern for the local people as it brings along an increasing number of Burmese Army troops to be deployed along the project site for security.
Besides, he said often local villagers are used as porters by the military and many lands confiscated for the pipeline to pass.
“Local residents will face severe rights violations including forced labour, torture, land confiscation, and even extra-judicial killings with the increase in the number of military camps,” said Wong Aung.
The construction of the 2,380 kilometre pipeline project that will connect Arakan State with China’s Yunnan Province will begin soon.
http://www.mizzima.com/news/
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Myanmar authorities seize nearly one ton of heroin
Asia-Pacific News
Jul 15, 2009, 1:16 GMT
Bangkok – Myanmar authorities intercepted nearly one ton of heroin in Shan state, one of the biggest drug busts in recent history, Thai media reports said Wednesday.
The massive seizure, netting 950 kilograms of heroin and 340,000 methamphetamine pills, was made Monday in Tachilek, in north-eastern Myanmar, the Bangkok Post reported, citing Thai narcotics suppression officers who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Thai sources said that the heroin was refined in Mong Hsat, a town south of Tachilek that is known to be under the control of business associates of the late Khun Sa, former ‘kingpin’ of the heroin trade in the Golden Triangle – where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet.
Khun Sa died in 2007 in Yangon, where he lived under house arrest after surrendering to Myanmar authorities more than a decade ago.
Once the source of more than 1,000 tons of heroin a year, the Golden Triangle’s output has declined over the last decade due to the departure of Khun Sa, adverse weather, crop substitution programmes and increased suppression.
http://www.monstersandcritics.
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Myanmar coordinates with Thailand on recruiting new workers
www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-15 13:16:29
YANGON, July 15 (Xinhua) — Myanmar has coordinated with Thailand on recruiting new Myanmar workers to the latter after nationality verification, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.
The coordination was made during a recent visit of Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint to Phuket, meeting with ThaiLabor Minister Phaitoon Kaeothong last weekend, the report said.
Maung Myint also held talks with more than 300 Thai businessmen in the Thai border town and looked into the provisional passport issuing camp in Kawthoung, a Myanmar border town opposite to Thailand’s Ranong.
Myanmar workers, after nationality verification, are being issued with provisional passports by the Myanmar side, while the Thai side would grant two-year work permit visa to them, it said.
Thailand is legally recruiting new workers from Myanmar on its labor demand, according to the report, which also disclosed that there are about 100,000 Myanmars working in Phuket.
The Myanmar authorities have opened temporary passport issuing offices in three border towns linking Thailand since 2006 to facilitate Myanmar workers to work in the neighboring country. The three border towns are Myawaddy, Kawthoung and Tachilek opposite to Thailand’s Maesot, Ranong and Maesai respectively.
Temporary passports are being issued within a day for prospective Myanmar citizens to work in Thailand.
The measure was seen as Myanmar’s bid to stop domestic illegal migrant workers to work in the immediate neighbor.
Under an agreement between the Myanmar Foreign Ministry and theThai Labor Ministry in 2006, Thailand offered to grant 10,000 Myanmar workers to work in factories and restaurants in the country.
According to earlier Thai statistics, there are 500,000 to 600,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand. http://news.xinhuanet.com/
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Guarded praise for Burma jail amnesty plan
By Tim Johnston
Published: July 15 2009 03:00 | Last updated: July 15 2009 03:00
Political analysts yesterday cautiously welcomed a Burmese government pledge to give prisoners an amnesty.
But the analysts warned that the proof of the administration’s sincerity would be measured in the number of political detainees freed.
“It is too early to say for sure exactly what it means. We don’t know how many will be released or how many political prisoners will be among them,” said Thant Myint-U, a former United Nations official and author of River of Lost Footsteps, a book about Burma.
Burma said earlier this week it was preparing for an amnesty at the request of Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, who visited the country two weeks ago. “At the request of the secretary-general, the Burma government is processing to grant amnesty to prisoners on humanitarian grounds and with a view to enabling them to participate in the 2010 general elections,” said Than Swe, the Burmese representative to the UN.
Mr Thant said: “They are looking for ways they can respond positively to the secretary-general’s visit without being seen to be caving in.” He did not believe that Burma’s most prominent prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi – the opposition leader and Nobel laureate whose current trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest has sparked international outrage – was likely to be freed. “It is possible that she will be released but . . . it is a long shot,” he said.
Human rights groups estimate that the Burmese authorities are holding some 2,100 political prisoners, many of whom were picked up after prodemocracy rallies were bloodily suppressed in 2007.
Aung Zaw, editor of The Irrawaddy magazine and a prominent voice in the country’s exile community, said he had seen such moves before. The Burmese junta released 9,002 prisoners in September, ostensibly so they could “participate in the fair elections” set for 2010. The move occurred when the government was under severe international pressure but only about a dozen were considered political prisoners. “I would be very careful until we see . . . [that] political prisoners are released,” he said.
Some diplomats, however, hope for a shift in the position of China, one of the military regime’s few remaining allies. China gave unequivocal support to the Burmese government at a Security Council meeting yesterday, urging the international community to treat Burma with “less arrogance and prejudice”.
But diplomats said behind the scenes Beijing was putting pressure on the generals who rule Burma to find a way out of the embarrassment caused by the trial of Ms Suu Kyi.
Mr Thant warned that even if Burma released substantial numbers of political prisoners, it would only be small step on a long road. “The most important thing here is whether there is any appetite for new political dialogue,” he said.
He added that given the time and energy the generals had invested in a new constitution and next year’s elections, it was unlikely that there would be any substantive dialogue be-tween them and the opposition before a new government was formed.
www.ft.com/burma
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
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Suu Kyi’s party sceptical on amnesty claim
Latest Update: Tuesday14/7/2009July, 2009, 10:46 PM Doha Time
Myanmar’s opposition party yesterday said it was sceptical the military junta would release political prisoners including its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, despite new assurances given to the UN.
The possible amnesty was announced by Myanmar’s UN ambassador Than Swe to diplomats in New York after UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded the release of key political detainees ahead of national polls planned for next year.
But Myanmar’s state media is yet to confirm the prisoner release and in the most recent amnesty, in February, only a handful of political detainees were among the 6,300 prisoners let out.
“We would welcome it if they released political prisoners in an amnesty but very few political prisoners have been included in previous amnesties,” said National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win.
Than Swe said the release was being prepared to allow the prisoners to contest next year’s elections that critics have derided as a sham intended to entrench the generals’ power.
“At the request of the (UN) Secretary General, the Myanmar government is processing to grant amnesty to prisoners on humanitarian grounds and with a view to enabling them to participate in the 2010 general elections,” he told the Security Council. But the envoy also criticised “undue pressure from the outside” while claiming that his government “intends to implement all appropriate recommendations” from the UN.
Ban had earlier briefed the 15-member UN Security Council on his visit to the military-ruled nation earlier this month in which he failed to secure any concessions or meet Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. AFP http://www.gulf-times.com/
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Ban: UN awaits response from Burma on democratic reform
New York – The Burmese government has received international proposals to move the country forward by instituting political and democratic reforms, but has so far not responded, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday during a meeting with the UN Security Council.
Ban visited Burma July 3-4 and met with the country’s leader, Army Senior General Than Shwe. But he was not allowed to see opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on trial for allegedly harbouring an American in her home and violating the terms of her house arrest.
“Now that I have conveyed in the clearest terms what is expected of Myanmar’s leaders, it is up to them to respond positively in their country’s own interest,” Ban said in briefing the 15-nation council about the trip, his second since last May when Burma was partly destroyed by Cyclone Nargis.
Ban asked Burma’s military government to release all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, resume government-opposition dialogue and create conditions for a free and fair general election in 2010. Suu Kyi is head of the National League for Democracy.
The UN chief said he was “deeply disappointed” that Than Shwe did not allow him to meet with Suu Kyi, which amounted to a “major lost opportunity” for Burma to prove its sincerity to embrace democracy.
“The world is now watching closely whether they will choose to act in the best interest of their country or ignore our concerns and expectations and the needs of their people,” he said.
Ban warned that if Suu Kyi is not allowed to take part in the election in 2010, “that election may not be regarded as legitimate and credible.”
Burma adopted a revised constitution last May, which bars Suu Kyi from running in the election because she married a foreigner, a Briton who has passed away.
While Ban deplored the lack of concrete results during his visit, Burma’s new ambassador, U Than Swe, told the council that the visit was a success because Ban met with Than Shwe for a second time, adding that the general rarely met with the same dignitary twice.
“With regard to the success of the visit, the Myanmar government intends to implement all appropriate recommendations that the secretary general had proposed,” U Than Swe said.
He said political prisoners will be granted amnesty on humanitarian grounds so they can take part in the 2010 election, but did not mention Suu Kyi.
U Than Swe said if his government needs technical assistance to organise the election, it will let the UN know.
“Myanmar today is steadfastly proceeding on its chosen path to democracy,” he said.
Council members agreed that Ban was right in visiting Burma and calling for democracy, human rights and economic development. Some deplored the continued arrest of Suu Kyi.
“The secretary general’s visit was an opportunity for the government of Burma (Myanmar) to transform its relationship with the international community, which stands ready to respond positively to real progress,” British Deputy Ambassador Philip Parham said.
“The regime’s failure to take this opportunity has only served to isolate it further,” he said.
“We can only hope that we may yet see progress in the coming days – it is not too late.”
http://www.nationmultimedia.
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Mission failure?
”The world should engage Myanmar’s generals.”
UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has returned from Myanmar empty handed. He had gone there to persuade the junta to release jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and 2,000 other political prisoners, and pursue political dialogue and reconciliation with the opposition. The junta rejected all his requests. What is more, his request to meet Suu Kyi too was flatly turned down.
The UN Secretary General has come in for much criticism for having failed in his mission. Critics have accused him of according the junta legitimacy by visiting Myanmar and meeting with Senior General Than Shwe, without achieving any of his goals. They have pointed to UN special rapporteur to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari’s eight visits to that country which have achieved little. Engaging with the generals, these critics have said, is of no use. It is not the way to deal with Myanmar.
A change in approach is required but not in the way these critics say. What is needed is more engagement with the generals, not less.
Western sanctions on Myanmar have not put the regime under pressure or forced it to yield ground. It has only brought economic devastation and misery to millions of ordinary people. Proponents of sanctions point out that it was this approach that pushed the apartheid regime in South Africa to relent. Myanmar is not South Africa. Its ruling elite, unlike the whites in South Africa, do not look to the west for social or cultural approval.
Myanmar’s military is comfortable with the isolation the west is imposing on it. Last year, western calls for military intervention in Myanmar grew and veiled threats to use force on Myanmar were issued. These have only intensified the siege mentality of Myanmar’s reclusive generals.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted in May that the sanctions policy hadn’t worked in bringing change in the junta’s thinking. The Obama administration must review this policy that hasn’t worked. Hardliners will point to Ban’s ‘failed’ mission to push for tougher sanctions. But the Obama administration should recall the co-operation, albeit limited, that the junta extended to the international aid community last year when Cyclone Nargis struck. That co-operation was perhaps small and reluctant but it isn’t without significance. It is an opening that the international community must work on.
http://www.deccanherald.com/
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Some jobs at risk, post-AEC
By PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
THE NATION
Published on July 15, 2009
Many workers in the agro-industrial, garment, fishery and mining industries could lose their jobs once the Asean Economic Community (AEC) comes into existence by 2015, as investment is likely to shift to countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam.
These neighbouring countries are rich in natural resources and have lower labour costs, which would encourage Thai and foreign businesses to invest there rather than stay in the Kingdom.
These are the findings of a survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
“Although Thai exports will grow significantly after integration, some industries will be at risk of being affected because investors are likely to move to other countries,” said Aat Pisanwanich, director of the university’s Centre for International Trade Studies.
Businesses most likely to be moved will be those that are labour-intensive and where the cost of raw materials is low. Aat said the first-tier businesses of those risky industries would be the first to be affected because they can be easily moved abroad due to the need for low-technology development.
To ensure Thai labour remains competitive, Aat said the government must accelerate the education of people to recognise the pros and cons of economic integration.
Chainant Ukosakul, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s committee on trade rules and international trade, said the government must also prepare for the raising of non-tariff barriers among Asean member states.
Some countries will take steps to protect their industries from liberalisation, in particular agricultural and agro-industrial businesses.
For instance, Indonesia could ban imports of halal food from Thailand, claiming halal food production here was not in accordance with Islamic regulations.
The study found that exports from Thailand to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei would grow significantly after import tariffs for almost 100 per cent of trade in goods among these countries are cut to zero. Products that will enjoy higher export growth are electronic goods, electrical appliances, automobiles and parts, chemical ducts, petroleum and processed foods.
http://www.nationmultimedia.
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Burma looking at freeing prisoners
Nirmal Ghosh
The Straits Times
Publication Date: 15-07-2009
Burma’s ruling regime has indicated that it was considering amnesty for prisoners ahead of elections next year, but its announcement was met yesterday with caution by analysts and main opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD).
With details of the plan still unclear, whether the release of prisoners would have any significant impact on the country’s future direction remained in doubt.
Burma’s ambassador to the United Nations U Than Swe told the UN Security Council that the country was responding to a request from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who recently visited Burma.
“The Burmese government is processing to grant amnesty to prisoners on humanitarian grounds and with a view to enabling them to participate in the 2010 general election,” he said on Monday.
“Burma today is steadfastly proceeding on its chosen path to democracy,” he added, appealing to the international community not to impose its own views on Burma.
“Undue pressure from the outside without fully comprehending the challenges faced by Burma will not be conducive to the country’s home-grown political pro-cess,” he said, reflecting a view shared by Burma’s neighbours India and China, as well as a growing number of analysts even in the West.
The statement came a few days after Ban’s visit was criticised as fruitless by several Western governments and exiled pro-democracy Burmese activists, some of whom called for the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the regime.
It also came a few days before Asean foreign ministers and the regional bloc’s dialogue partners India, China and the US are due to meet in Thailand.
Burma is estimated to be detaining more than 2,000 political prisoners. A previous amnesty in February saw the release of 6,300 convicts, of whom only 23 were political prisoners.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win told reporters: “We would welcome it if they released political prisoners in an amnesty, but very few political prisoners have been included in previous amnesties.”
Some of those currently detained were involved in the Yangon street protests of 2007.
Analysts said the regime is unlikely to release political prisoners unless it is sure they pose no threat.
At the same time, it has always been keen not to be seen as caving in to international pressure.
Still, Ban welcomed U Than Swe’s statement, telling reporters: “This is encouraging, but I have to continue to follow up how they will implement all the issues raised during my visit to Burma.” He added, however, that he was unsure who would be covered by the amnesty.
“I have made it quite clear that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be released and free to participate in the elections,” he said.
Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 19 years in detention, is under trial for allegedly violating her house arrest after an American man swam to her lakeside bungalow in May.
The harsh response of the regime drew an outcry from the international community, prompting Ban’s visit to Burma earlier this month.
“The (Burmese) government needs to deliver on the promise to make the 2010 elections inclusive, free and fair,” Ban said in a briefing to the Security Council.
“The choice for Burma’s leaders in the coming days and weeks will be between meeting that responsibility in the interest of all concerned, and failing their own people and each one of you.
“The world is now watching closely whether they will choose to act in the best interest of their country or ignore our concerns and expectations and the needs of their people.”
The Security Council remains divided on Burma. The US, Britain and France remain hardline in their approach, and in favour of tightening sanctions.
But China, which has strategic interests in Burma’s stability, opposes the sanctions that have left Burma economically isolated, as well as the idea of the Security Council censuring Burma.
http://www.asianewsnet.net/
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87-year-old opposition member imprisoned
July 14, 2009 (DVB)–An elderly member of Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy party who is said to be in declining health was yesterday sentenced to two years in prison under defamation charges.
According to his colleague, the 87-year-old chairman of the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) Taungok township branch in Arakan state, Kyaw Khaing, was denied medical care throughout the trial, during which he was “slipping in and out of consciousness”.
“He has been suffering from dysentery for the last three to four days and he had to be supported [on the way] to the court,” said Tin Thein Aung.
“Deputy police chief Tin Maung San would not allow him to be hospitalized,” he said, adding that the doctor refused to come to the courtroom but instead handed medicine to his son.
Kyaw Khaing was sued for defamation in June by his predecessor in the job, Than Pe, although Tin Thein Aung argued that the sentencing came about “because he is an NLD [member] and involved in politics”.
There are currently around 470 NLD members imprisoned in Burma, out of a total of 2,160 political prisoners.
The verdict arrived on the same day that Burma’s ambassador to the United Nations, Than Swe, announced that the government “is processing to grant amnesty to prisoners on humanitarian grounds and with a view to enabling them to participate in the 2010 general elections.”
The pledge followed a visit to Burma earlier this month by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who urged the release of political prisoners prior to the elections next year.
Ban Ki-moon reported back to the UN Security Council yesterday, and said that his denial of a meeting with imprisoned NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi was “a major lost opportunity” for the country.
‘The choice for Myanmar’s [Burma] leaders in the coming days and weeks will be between meeting that responsibility in the interest of all concerned, or failing their own people and each one of you,’ he said.
It was not explicitly stated however that the prisoner amnesty would include political prisoners; in February this year over 6000 prisoners were released in a ‘goodwill’ amnesty by the government, although only 23 were political prisoners.
Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet http://english.dvb.no/news.
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Straits Times: July 14, 2009
Democracy politician jailed
YANGON (Myanmar) – AN 87-YEAR-OLD member of Myanmar’s pro-democracy party has been sentenced by the military regime to a two-year prison term for alleged defamation, a party member said Tuesday.
Kyaw Khaing – a member of the National League for Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces a five-year prison term herself if found guilty in an ongoing trial – was sentenced Monday by a court in Tauggok in northwestern Rakhine State, said Thein Hlaing, a senior party member there.
Kyaw Khaing was sued by an expelled party member after comments made over fundraising for the party.
‘The court decision was biased and unfair. This is a severe and unjustified punishment because Kyaw Khaing is an opposition party member and an elected party candidate,’ said Aung Thein, a lawyer whose license was revoked in May, a day before he applied to represent Suu Kyi at her trial.
Kyaw Khaing was elected to office when his party won a landslide victory in the 1990 general elections, the results of which have never been recognized by the government.
He was given a seven-year prison sentence in 2007 following an pro-democracy uprising led by Buddhist monks, but was released 12 days later.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962 and is widely accused of human rights violations.
Western human rights groups say the regime holds more than 2,000 political prisoners.
Suu Kyi is facing a separate trial in which she has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by harboring an uninvited American man who entered her residence. — AP
http://www.straitstimes.com/
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Burmese army troops defect to Karen group
July 15, 2009 (DVB)–Around 70 members from two government-allied militia groups in Burma, along with two soldiers from the Burmese army, have reportedly defected to the opposition Karen National Union.
The move comes during an ongoing offensive by the Burmese army, supported by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), against the Karen National Union (KNU) that began on 2 June.
According to KNU joint secretary Saw Hla Ngwe, the soldiers who joined the KNU’s Brigade 6 were from both the DKBA and the Karen Peace Force (KPF), who split from the KNU in 1997 and allied themselves to the government.
“On 7 July, Saw Er Wah from [the DKBA] came with 12 people, 16 guns and two walkie-talkies,” said Saw Hla Ngwe, adding that around 55 more people had subsequently joined over the ensuing days, and brought with them weaponry and ammunition.
A source close to the KPF confirmed the defection, and said that two troops from the Burmese army had also joined.
“I came to learn about it when people from the DKBA office rang, asking if anyone had found their men who went missing,” he said, adding that KNU Brigade 6 had confirmed the soldiers were with them.
When probed on the reports, an official at the DKBA office in Pa-an said that “it might be true”.
“If they have gone, they have gone. We won’t be able to convince them anyway…maybe they left because it is not good for them here,” he said.
Saw Hla Ngwe said the defection was caused by the Burmese government’s pressure on the ceasefire groups to transform themselves into border guards, and therefore come under the control of the government.
“If they are to take the [government] salary and do as they are told…they will lose their Karen identity and they will lose the right to freely do business,” he said.
A number of armed groups that have signed ceasefire agreements with the government have been pressured to become border patrol groups.
The move would allow the groups to become legal under Burmese law, and thus they would ostensibly be able to participate in the 2010 elections.
Recent fighting between the Burmese army and the KNU has forced around 5,000 civilians from Burma’s eastern Karnen state into neighbouring Thailand, with many citing instances of forced recruitment into the army as the reason for fleeing.
Reporting by Naw Noreen http://english.dvb.no/news.
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