A vote for Webb’s Myanmar opening
Ceasefire groups ponder whose side Beijing is on
Burma: Surge in Political Prisoners
Burma denies Suu Kyi appeal court access: party
Japan’s Burma Policy: Changes to Come?
Htoo Company Plans Tea Plantation near Mount Popa
A Child Porter
Food Shortages Reported in Laogai
Junta Announces Selection of Proxy Candidates
Myanmar allegations highlight Singapore bank secrecy
Mon groups merge for new political party
Natural Gas transmission interlude to cost Thailand 1 billion Baht
Birkin seeks Myanmar sanctions
Burma’s prime minister to attend UN General Assembly
===========================
ASIA TIMES ONLINE:  Sep 17, 2009
COMMENT
A vote for Webb’s Myanmar opening
By David I Steinberg

United States Senator James Webb’s recent visit to Myanmar has come under fire from the Burmese democracy movement. The protests, while sincere and well-intended, miss the point of Webb’s visit – he was not there to praise or legitimize the ruling junta but to help craft a more effective policy aimed at its removal and the restoration of democracy to this proud land.

Writing in the Washington Post recently, U Win Tin, a founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party and a former political prisoner (from 1989 to 2008) lamented that Webb’s visit was “damaging to our democracy movement”. I believe he misses important aspects of the Barack Obama administration’s

Myanmar policy. (U Win Tin’s opinion piece titled An ‘Election’ Burma’s People Don’t Need appeared September 9 in the Washington Post.)

Make no mistake, U Win Tin is a brave and honorable man who has suffered much for the democratic movement in Myanmar. His sacrifices, and those of many others in that country, have neither gone unnoticed nor unappreciated abroad. The problems facing both the people of Myanmar and the international community are manifold. The people indeed have spiraled down an economic abyss while the state has garnered increasing resources from its exports of natural gas and other primary materials.

The military in Myanmar has a stranglehold on power in that society. It has a vision of their its leadership in that state – a belief that the military is the only institution that can preserve national unity. One may question the validity of this belief, but one should not doubt the conviction with which it is held. That the generals have not used their now considerable resources for the common good is undeniable – validated by their own statistics on their meager expenditures in fields connected with basic human needs.
The essential premise of U Win Tin and his party is that political change must precede any other action internally or in international relations: if the political stalemate between the military and the opposition, led by the NLD, were to be resolved through dialogue, economic reform would take place, people’s lives would become better, minority relations would improve and international relations prosper. To imply that 20 years of internal political stalemate between the two would be overcome prior to the planned 2010 elections is fantasy.

The military junta’s premise is obviously different: unity and stability come first and must be guaranteed by a new government under a constitution in which, while opposition voices will be heard, the reins of ultimate power will remain in military hands. Only then can economic conditions for the people improve. Foreign states should, thus, recognize the validity of this argument and the road toward what the junta calls “discipline-flourishing democracy”.

Both premises, however, are questionable. The military has given no previous indication that it has serious policy concerns for the livelihoods of the majority of the population, and perhaps the leadership is shielded from the stark realities of survival in that society.

The opposition, which has never had a chance to practice its liberal economic and political platform, is likely erroneous on two counts: that the military will now renegotiate the new constitution that is to come into effect after the elections in 2010, and that the international community, of which the military is rightly suspicious since the West has generally called for regime change for two decades, can materially affect the internal distribution of power in that society.

A more productive premise than either of the two would be to start with the plight of the diverse Burmese people: how can their conditions be improved? This is both the critical need and the essential policy question. It is not only a problem resulting from Cyclone Nargis in 2008, but deprivation is endemic in that society after a half-century of ineffective and indeed deleterious economic policies, but was greatly exacerbated by the cyclone’s devastation.

Realities erode the high moral ground. Both groups claim it internally for different, antithetical reasons. Externally, sanctions and isolation have been its manifestation. Effective dialogue between the opposition and the military is highly unlikely to take place before the elections of 2010. Yet there are other possible avenues of dialogue; one of them is with the international community. That dialogue with the United States and the West has been in hiatus for 20 years.

U Win Tin, reflecting the leadership of his party, is understandably concerned that this is the last chance for change before the new constitution goes into effect. The dilemma for the NLD, of which he is an executive committee member, is this: to participate in the 2010 elections (if allowed to do so – there is not yet a new party registration law) might give them a small opposition voice in a new government, but it would effectively eliminate the victory the NLD won in the 1990 elections.

This is a genuine problem for them and for which there is no easy answer. Webb’s trip did not, and could not resolve Burmese issues, for the problems of that sorry state will only be decided bama-lo, as the Burmese say, “In the Burmese manner.”

Webb’s visit was a first and important step to begin this dialogue process. Change and better relations are likely to move slowly and will depend on staged, reciprocal actions on both sides. Webb appropriately called for amelioration of conditions in that country. It was an important and productive beginning, but there should be no illusions as to the problems ahead. However one views sanctions, it is evident they are easily imposed and exceedingly difficult to eliminate.

But there are other steps that each side might take to begin to deal with the dire Burmese conditions. A prosperous and stable Myanmar is in the interests of that country, its neighbors China and India, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the United States. Isolation exacerbates the multiple problems facing that state and the international community.

We should applaud the modest beginning Webb’s visit has created, and explore its positive ramifications.

David I Steinberg is distinguished professor of Asian Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. His latest book is Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press.   http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KI17Ae01.html
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Ceasefire groups ponder whose side Beijing is on
News – Shan Herald Agency for News
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 09:21

In the wake of the Burmese Army capturing the Kokang area, ceasefire groups on the Sino-Burma border have been left wondering on whose side China is on.

“We used to think whatever happened, China’s our friend,” said a middle-aged officer from one of the ceasefire groups located on the Sino-Burma frontier. “After Kokang, I’m not sure.”

Kachin, Kokang, Wa and Mongla have always believed that they, together with Shans, would be collectively treated as a buffer, as North Korea is, to successive Burmese governments’ efforts to establish détente with the west especially the United States.

That was until Kokang, the ethnic Chinese dominant territory of Burma, was not only invaded but badly defeated last month by the Burmese Army that prompted only a few complaints from Beijing.

Many of those questioned by SHAN admitted they “can’t help but feel that we have been let down by the provincial government, if not the central government.”

The following, they say, are the reasons for their suspicions:

* When tensions between Naypyitaw and Kokang mounted forcing people to flee across the border, there were already temporary camps where they could stay complete with mats and blankets (The International Crisis Group meanwhile says Beijing “was not even forewarned”)
* “During the fighting, we heard the Burmese Army had requested that the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) move back a few hundred meters from the boundary,” said an officer, “The PLA just ‘obeyed’.”
* One of the Wa sources said when they went across the common border with Kokang to help defend Qingshuihe against the Burmese Army attack, they were ‘advised’ to wait resulting in the Kokang stronghold’s fall
* The deposed Kokang leader Peng Jiasheng’s assets inside China are also being seized
* Both Panghsang and Mongla were also ‘advised’ to keep their territories off limits not only to Peng and his family but also to anyone associated with his Kokang Army
* Most recently, banks along the border were ordered to set a limit to how much the depositor could withdraw. “One of my friends went to withdraw ?100,000 ($14,300) a few days ago,” said an officer, “and he was told the bank first needed to know how he was going to spend that kind of money.”

“This is the last straw,” said an officer. “Now only the Burmese Army can buy as much as it wants without fear of its assets being frozen.”

On the other hand, there has been an increase in the frequency of drug seizures along the Thai-Burma border recently. Interviewed by the Irrawaddy on the latest haul of almost 3 million meth pills on September 11, the Burmese police in Tachilek said the drugs originated in Panghsang. “That’s the damnedest thing I’ve heard in 20 years,” a veteran Thai security officer in Maesai, opposite Tachilek. “In the past, the Burmese officials always immediately came to the Wa’s defence, whenever we leveled our accusations at them.”

These days, according to a businessman in Kengtung, 160 km north of Maesai, the only way to survive and get ahead as a drug entrepreneur is to be “politically correct,” that is, to support the military junta. “From now on, the Wa is not going to be allowed to sell drugs and buy weapons to be used against Naypyitaw.”

The New Light of Myanmar, on Sunday, 13 September, had warned all the ceasefire armies to be ready to transform themselves into Burma Army-controlled border guard forces (BGFs). Kokang was attacked and its 1,500 strong force routed after it turned down the BGF proposal.
http://www.bnionline.net/news/shan/7047-ceasefire-groups-ponder-whose-side-beijing-is-on.html
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Burma: Surge in Political Prisoners
Planned 2010 Elections Not Credible if Opposition Remains in Prison
September 15, 2009

Instead of being persecuted and imprisoned, people like Zargana, U Gambira, Su Su Nway and Min Ko Naing should be allowed to help their country. When visiting Burma, foreign officials should ask not just to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, but with other Burmese political activists in prison to solicit their views and show support for their courageous and important work.
Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director

(Washington, DC) – Burma’s military government has more than doubled the number of political prisoners in the past two years, including more than a hundred imprisoned in recent months, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. Sentenced to long prison terms for their involvement in peaceful demonstrations in 2007, and for assisting civilians in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis in 2008, the political prisoner population has reached more than 2,200.

The 35-page report, “Burma’s Forgotten Prisoners,” showcases dozens of prominent political activists, Buddhist monks, labor activists, journalists, and artists arrested since peaceful political protests in 2007 and sentenced to draconian prison terms after unfair trials. The report was released on September 16, 2009 at a Capitol Hill news conference hosted by Senator Barbara Boxer.

Human Rights Watch said that Burma’s rulers should immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners in Burma if scheduled elections in 2010 are to have any credibility.”Burma’s generals are planning elections next year that will be a sham if their opponents are in prison,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Despite recent conciliatory visits by UN and foreign officials, the military government is actually increasing the number of critics it is throwing into its squalid prisons.”

The release of the report marks the launch of “2100 by 2010,” Human Rights Watch’s global campaign for the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the time of the 2010 elections.

“We named the campaign ‘2100 by 2010′ in July – but since then, the number has grown to approximately 2250,” said Malinowski. “The United States, China, India, and Burma’s neighbors in Southeast Asia should make the release of all political prisoners a central goal of their engagement with Burma, and use every tool of influence and leverage they have to achieve it.”

In a September 9 letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Human Rights Watch called on the United States to complete its policy review on Burma and focus on the promotion of human rights through principled diplomacy, tougher financial sanctions, and additional but properly monitored humanitarian aid.

Political opponents, activists and others with the courage to speak out against military rule or criticize government actions or policies have been routinely locked up in Burma’s prisons for years. There are 43 known prisons holding political activists in Burma, while more than 50 labor camps where prisoners are forced to perform hard labor.

Repression increased after the popular uprising led in part by monks in August and September 2007 was crushed by the government. Closed courts and courts inside prisons have held unfair trials and sentenced more than 300 political figures, human rights defenders, labor activists, artists, journalists, comedians, internet bloggers, and Buddhist monks and nuns to lengthy prison terms. Some prison terms have been for more than 100 years. The activists were mainly charged under provisions of Burma’s archaic penal code that criminalizes free expression, peaceful demonstration, and forming of independent organizations. More than 20 prominent activists and journalists, including Burma’s most famous comedian, Zargana, were arrested for having spoken out about obstacles to humanitarian relief following Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma in May 2008.

The world was reminded of the brutality of the military government after the arrest, protracted and unfair trial and conviction of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in August after an American intruder broke into her house. Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won the last Burmese elections in 1990, has been in prison or house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

“Gaining the release of Suu Kyi is important not just for her own well-being, but because it could facilitate a process that allowed the opposition to fully participate in elections and Burmese society,” said Malinowski. “But Suu Kyi is not the only person facing persecution for her political beliefs. People like the comedian Zargana, imprisoned for criticizing the government’s pathetic response to Cyclone Nargis, or Su Su Nway, a brave woman activist who led street protests, also deserve the world’s attention.”

“Burma’s Forgotten Prisoners” spotlights the cases of political prisoners including:

* Zargana: In November 2008, a Rangoon court sentenced prominent comedian and social activist Zargana to 59 years in jail – a sentence later reduced to 35 years – for disbursing relief aid and talking to the international media about his frustrations in assisting victims of Cyclone Nargis. Zargana was previously detained for a year following the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma, and jailed for four years in 1990-94 for making political speeches. Police rearrested Zargana in September 2007 for publicly supporting the protests by monks, and detained him for 20 days. Zargana is serving his sentence in a prison in Myitkyina, Kachin State, in northern Burma, which is known for its bitterly cold winter and is difficult for relatives to reach. His mother Daw Kyi Oo died in March 2009, while Zargana was in prison.

* U Gambira: On November 4, 2007, Burmese authorities arrested 28-year-old U Gambira, one of the main leaders of the All-Burma Monks Alliance, which had spearheaded the September 2007 protests. On the day of U Gambira’s arrest, the Washington Post published an opinion piece in which he wrote: “The regime’s use of mass arrests, murder, torture and imprisonment has failed to extinguish our desire for the freedom that was stolen from us so many years ago.” On November 21, 2007, U Gambira was sentenced to a total of 68 years in prison (since reduced to 63 years), including 12 with hard labor. His brother Aung Ko Ko Lwin received 20 years in prison for hiding him, and was sent to Kyaukpyu prison in Arakan state, while his brother-in-law Moe Htet Hlyan was also jailed for helping him while he was being pursued by the authorities.

* Su Su Nway: In 2005, labor rights activist Su Su Nway became the first person to successfully prosecute local officials for the imposition of forced labor, a common human rights violation in Burma. Su Su Nway, who suffers from a heart condition, was subsequently sentenced to one and a half years of imprisonment in October 2005 on charges of “using abusive language against the authorities.” In 2006, she was awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award by the Canadian human rights group Rights and Democracy. She was rearrested in November 2007, after leading peaceful protests earlier that year. In November 2008, she was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison after being charged with treason and “intent to cause fear or harm to the public.”

* Min Ko Naing: Born in 1962, Min Ko Naing is a former chairman of the All- Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and one of the student leaders of the “8/8/88 uprising” against the Burmese junta which began on August 8, 1988. Arrested in 1989, he was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for instigating “disturbances to the detriment of law and order, peace and tranquility.” In November 2004, he was released after serving 15 years in prison. After taking part in peaceful demonstrations in August 2007, he was arrested along with other leaders of the 8/8/88 movement. On November 11, 2008, Min Ko Naing was sentenced to 65 years of imprisonment. Min Ko Naing was reportedly tortured during periods of his detention.

Human Rights Watch said that it is seriously concerned for the health of many prisoners held in remote facilities with poor medical and sanitation conditions. The Burmese government should immediately permit the resumption of International Committee of the Red Cross visits to prisons to assist those in custody, and grant access to other independent humanitarian organizations. The government should also end its disgraceful and punitive practice of transferring prisoners to remote areas, placing a huge burden on family members to visit and provide urgently needed medicine and food.

“Instead of being persecuted and imprisoned, people like Zargana, U Gambira, Su Su Nway and Min Ko Naing should be allowed to help their country,” said Malinowski. “When visiting Burma, foreign officials should ask not just to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, but with other Burmese political activists in prison to solicit their views and show support for their courageous and important work.”

Human Rights Watch said that during this critical period, the Burmese government’s friends such as China, India, Japan, Russia, and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), members of the UN Security Council, the UN secretary-general, and others should use their influence to press for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/09/15/burma-surge-political-prisoners
==========================
Burma denies Suu Kyi appeal court access: party

Writer: AFP
Published: 16/09/2009 at 03:01 PM

Burma authorities have barred pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from attending court this week to hear the final arguments in her appeal against her house arrest, her party said Wednesday.

File photo of Burma democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been refused permission by the Burma authorities to attend court this week when it hears final arguments in the opposition leader’s appeal against her house arrest, her party said Wednesday.

The Nobel laureate was convicted on August 11 of breaching security laws after an American swam to her house and sentenced to three years’ hard labour. Junta leader Than Shwe reduced the sentence to 18 months house arrest.

The 64-year-old opposition icon appealed against the verdict earlier this month and lawyers for both the military government and her defence are due to make submissions to a court in the commercial hub Rangoon on Friday.

“We applied to the police special information branch for her to attend court on Friday because Daw Suu wanted to hear the arguments for her appeal,” Nyan Win, the spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), told AFP.

“They refused it saying that it was not their concern. I told them that it was their concern as they detained her, they did not say anything after that,” added Nyan Win, who is also one of her main lawyers.

Suu Kyi had not yet been informed that she would be barred from the hearing, he said.

The guilty verdict sparked international outrage and the imposition of further sanctions against Burma’s powerful generals, who have already kept the frail Suu Kyi locked up for 14 of the past 20 years.

The extension of her house arrest keeps her off the scene for elections promised by the regime some time in 2010, adding to widespread criticism that the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the junta’s grip on power.

The NLD won the country’s last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power by the military, which has ruled the country since 1962.

Nyan Win said the refusal to allow Suu Kyi to attend her own appeal hearing was “not justice”, adding: “This is also a sign of how they handle the case in terms of balance and fairness.”

Her lawyers have said the appeal would focus on the fact that a 1974 constitution under which she was originally detained had been superseded by a new constitution approved last year.

Her legal team had fully prepared their arguments for Friday, he added.

Eccentric US national John Yettaw was sentenced to seven years’ hard labour at the same trial for swimming uninvited to her lakeside house in May, but the regime freed him last month after a visit by US Senator Jim Webb.

Suu Kyi insisted on her innocence during the trial held at Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison, saying that she allowed military veteran Yettaw to stay for two nights at her home because he was ill.

The move raised expectations of a possible thaw in the tense relations between Burma and the United States, which has reviewed its policies towards the country under the administration of President Barack Obama.  http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/154549/burma-denies-suu-kyi-appeal-court-access-party
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NEWS ANALYSIS
Japan’s Burma Policy: Changes to Come?
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN      Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Democratic Party of Japan’s (DPJ) landmark win in the recent Japanese election has prompted much speculation about the incoming administration’s foreign policy.

China’s rise, US economic difficulties, North Korea’s unpredictable bellicosity and Asia’s growing share of global GDP means that Tokyo has to deal with many challenges and opportunities.

Japan’s economy has stagnated since 1990, about the same time that Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) won the last election held in Burma.
Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso leaves his final news conference as premier at his official residence in Tokyo on September 16. (Photo: Reuters)

Japan’s economy contracted 15.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009—the fastest pace since records began in 1955 and the fourth straight quarter of negative growth. Exports plunged 26 percent in that quarter, the steepest decline on record. The latest numbers show the vulnerability of a country reliant on international trade to fuel growth, with the Chinese market central to this strategy.

While Asia’s importance in Tokyo’s political and economic considerations will increase, Japan remains dependent on the US for security and to a large extent it will follow US foreign policy trends.

That said, the DPJ has already indicated that it could alter Japan’s dependent defense relationship with the US. However, it remains unclear how it would achieve this without compromising Japanese security, as the party seems unlikely to add any bite to Japan’s official pacifism.

With all these conundrums in mind, Burma doubtless will remain well down its list of international issues or bilateral relationships. It remains to be seen if the new Japanese administration will change its approach to Burma, even as the US comes to the end of its Burma policy review.

China’s rise has eclipsed Japan in Western public perceptions of where power lies in Asia, though the Japanese economy remains the world’s second-largest, after the US.

One place where reality matches perception is Burma, a sea-change that has taken place over the past two decades. While nowadays China is the main commercial-diplomatic partner for Snr-Gen Than Shwe, this was not the case in the past, when China supported Burma’s Communist rebels.

Before invading British-ruled Burma in 1942, Japan helped foster a nationalist movement in Burma, training and arming independence hero Aung San’s (Aung San Suu Kyi’s father) legendary “thirty comrades,”—later the core of the Burma Independence Army.

Prior to the 1988 student-led, pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma, Japan was probably the junta’s main economic partner. By 1980, Burma was the fourth-largest recipient of Japanese overseas aid, which peaked at US $244 million in 1986, or 6.3 percent of all Japanese overseas assistance.

Meanwhile Burma’s economy deteriorated rapidly, a contributory factor to the 1988 protests, suggesting that the aid did little to help ordinary Burmese. Japanese leverage on the junta was limited, however, as it lacked a UN Security Council vote which Beijing has wielded many times in the junta’s defense in recent years.

Donald Seekins, who teaches at Meio University in Japan and is the author of “Burma and Japan since 1940: From Co-prosperity to Quiet Dialogue,” said that business interests drove Japan’s foreign assistance to Burma.

“They saw the post-socialist economy as a big opportunity and didn’t want to be crowded out of the Burma market by other Asian countries, especially Singapore, South Korea and China,” he said.

Despite shying from public support of the junta after 1988, Japan has refused to join Western sanctions and continues to provide bilateral aid to what NGO Transparency International ranks as one of the most corrupt governments in the world.

According to Yuki Akimoto, the director of BurmaInfo (Japan), “Japan has been the largest donor to Burma among OECD countries every year since 1979 and aid levels were not lowered even after the 2007 “Saffron Revolution,” when a Japanese journalist, Kenji Nagai, was killed.”

Burmese Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Maj-Gen Htay Oo’s visited Japan in August, in the final days of the LDP administration and just days after the culmination of the trial which saw Aung San Suu Kyi put back under house arrest.

While Japan joined calls for Suu Kyi to be released, it has generally refrained from the blunt criticisms issued by the US and Europeans.

Tokyo has preferred what Seekins terms “quiet dialogue”—reassuring the junta that while Japan feels compelled to emulate Western rhetoric on human rights issues from time to time, it wants to retain economic ties with Burma.

While bureaucrats in Japan’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs will retain considerable influence on policy, irrespective of who is in office, Htay Oo’s week-long visit to Japan may have been an attempt to learn what the DPJ might do once in power, given that the trip came just days before the Japanese election.

Reading those tea leaves, however, is difficult. However, Htay Oo doubtless knew in advance that incoming Prime Minister Hatoyama has some strong views on Burma.

Yuki Akamoto told The Irrawaddy that Hatoyama is a long-time supporter of Suu Kyi and democratization in Burma, and he has been an officer of the Parliamentary League to Promote Democracy in Burma which has been critical of the regime and Japan’s policy.

How this translates into policy, however, remains to be seen. With the US apparently looking for ways to engage with the junta, Japan is unlikely to take a harder line, given that it digressed from the US-led sanctions first implemented under President Clinton in 1997.

The US rationale for engagement partly stems from the view that economic sanctions have merely enabled less-scrupulous investors and governments to obtain access to Burmese oil, gas, gems and timber without any adverse effect on the junta’s control of Burma. Japan has more or less been saying this all along.

Tokyo is wary of China’s rise, so it seems unlikely that Japan will advocate a policy that could push Burma closer to China. Going forward, this will give Beijing an easier run at Burma’s resources.

Moreover, China sees Burma not only as a resource goldmine, but as a vital component in its strategic power projection, as China can acquire overland access to the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia though Burma.

At the same time, however, if the US continues to press for democracy in Burma—here it must be noted that the Obama administration has shied away from pro-democracy rhetoric in its foreign policy to date—then Japan will follow suit to some degree, irrespective of the grumblings about the US expressed in the DPJ’s pre-election propaganda.

Therefore, as Donald Seekins puts it, it is unlikely “that there will be much change from the LDP-era’s rather ambiguous Burma policy.”
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16794
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Htoo Company Plans Tea Plantation near Mount Popa
By THE IRRAWADDY        Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Htoo Trading Company, owned by Tay Za, one of the junta’s favorite businessmen, is clearing timber in the reserve forest of Mount Popa, reportedly for a tea plantation, which has raised concerns among environmentalists.

“Forests are being cut for a tea plantation, and it’s not appropriate,” said Burma’s foremost environmentalist U Ohn.

U Ohn, currently works as secretary of Rangoon-based the Forest Resources Environmental Development Association (FREDA), led an effort to regrow forests around Mount Popa from 1982 to 1986. Under the name “Popa Mountain Park” the forests are the protected areas.
The forest of Mount Popa is a protected area. (Source: travel.webshots.com)

Sources said the Htoo Company has cut large hardwood trees and the logging could affect the Mount Popa watershed, which provides water to the Kyet-Mauk-Taung water reservoir.

“Htoo company has been logging out in the Yae-Nge stream watershed area, which provides water to Kyauk Pa-Daung Township,” a resident of Kyauk Pa-Daung told to The Irrawaddy.

Tea plants normally grow best in a temperate weather zone and the area selected for a tea plantation is not suitable, said the resident.

A forest officer from Mount Popa, said, “Normally, tea leaves are grown at the highland in Shan State and the Chin State. The region around Mount Popa and Yae-Nge stream is not that suitable.”

A Rangoon-based environmental preservationist noted that there are coffee plantations on the east and west sides of Mount Popa, and the weather is suitable for coffee plantations.

Mount Popa is an extinct volcano located 4,981 feet above sea level north of the Pegu Yoma Mountains.

In 1982, a Forestry Department survey found there were 300 types of trees, 52 species of orchids and many species of herbal plants around Popa Mountain. About 130 species of birds live in the area.

The Popa watershed at one time had 36 tributaries. Many streams have ceased to flow because of deforestation.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16797
=========================
A Child Porter
By LAWI WENG    Wednesday, September 16, 2009

After 16 days of being an ammunition porter on the frontline with Burmese military government troops, Aung Naing was reunited with his parents recently at Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burmese border.

Recounting his ordeal to The Irrawaddy, 16-year-old Aung Naing said he begged the government troops to let him go because he did not want to be a soldier. He finally escaped after the soldiers told him they would take him for military training in Rangoon.
Aung Naing after his ordeal as a child porter. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

According to Aung Naing, junta troops from Light Infantry Battalion 32 seized him and four other youngsters near Three Pagodas Pass during a troop exchange in August. The five children were made to carry ammunition on the frontline.

He said they came and seized him in the yard of his home when his parents were out. He was taken to a battalion base near Three Pagodas Pass, where he spent one night before he was made to carry ammunition.

“When they seized me, they just ordered me to go with them to the hospital at Three Pagodas Pass,” he said.

“They made me carry mines, mortar shells and a radio transmitter,” he said, unable to guess at how much weight he had to carry because he had never had to carry such loads before.

“They were very rough,” he said. “They didn’t give me any food for two days. I only had water to drink. All I could do was try to get some sleep at night.

“Without food, I became more and more tired. I could barely lift my feet to walk, but if I sat down, they beat me.”

“They forced me to walk on the frontline, where Karen troops could shoot at me,” Aung Naing said.

Aung Naing said he was wounded when Karen National Liberation Army troops ambushed government troops on their way to Anan Kwin village in Kyar Inn Seik Gyi Township, Karen State.

“The Karens fired mortars at us first,” he said. “I tried to get as close to the ground as possible, but the basket was too heavy, and I couldn’t get my arms out quickly—that’s when the bullet hit my right arm near the elbow. Luckily it only gave me a flesh wound.

“The soldiers gave me some medicine but left the wound to bleed,” he said.

The soldiers removed half the load from his basket after he was shot, but they still forced him to carry ammunition, even though his arm was bleeding.

“Each time we had to cross a stream or river, they told me if I dropped their transmitter, I would go to prison for 20 years,” he said. “I held it firmly despite my injury.”

He said the government soldiers did not dare cook rice at night because they were afraid the Karen might see the fire, he said.

“The soldiers had rations to eat if they couldn’t cook rice, but I had nothing but water to drink. They didn’t want to share food with me because they were afraid they would run out of supplies in the jungle.”

“Once or twice they gave me a can of fish, and sometimes I was able to get some rice with a bit of salt,” he said.

When he finally reached home, Aung Naing said he felt like a convict on the run. His arm had been injured, but it was the brutal wound to his spirit that caused more pain.

[Aung Naing is not the real name of the boy in the story]
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16798
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Food Shortages Reported in Laogai
By LAWI WENG    Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Tens of thousands of Kokang civilians are experiencing food shortages, partly because UN and NGO agencies have suspended aid projects after the clash between government troops and Kokang militias, according to the sources on the China-Burma border.

A Burmese source based in Ruili in China’s Yunnan Province, said, “Previously, they relied on aid from WFP (World Food Program) and NGOs, but now the projects are suspended in the region and they don’t have enough rice to eat.”
A Kokang ethnic man stands next to cars abandoned by locals on a deserted road in Laogai. (Photo: Reuters)

The source said that available rice stock goes first to government forces.

“Laogai has become a military township,” he said. “The military is everywhere.”

A spokeswoman with the WFP in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, “We don’t know yet when we will restart our projects there. At the moment, we want to see a safe situation for our staff who works there.”

An estimated 120,000 people rely on the UN and NGO agencies for food and other aid, according to the WFP.

About 100 UN and NGO aid workers were trapped in Laogai Township after Burmese government troops and Kokang militias clashed in August. Many aid workers work with former opium farmers who are now growing substitute crops and in community development.

The Burmese government, in a recent press conference in Laogai, said that all markets and schools are open and many businesses are reopened.

“All those saying that are just repeating propaganda,” said the source. “There are still many students in China at refugee camps and many shopkeepers haven’t come back.”

Many people are afraid to return because they fear government troops will again clash with the Kokang militia led by Peng Jiasheng, who is on the run and reportedly in Wa territory.

An estimated 13,000 Kokang refugees have returned from China, and more than 20,000 are believed to have remained in Chinese refugee camps.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=16799
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Junta Announces Selection of Proxy Candidates
Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Burmese government has selected more than 300 proxy candidates to run in the general election in 2010.

Three hundred candidates were selected from military personnel who are now attending the National Defense University in Naypyidaw.

According to the sources in Rangoon and Naypyidaw, the candidates will run under the banner of the National Politics Party, a proxy party for the military, which has yet to be formed.

The candidates will undergo a three-month training process prior to the election, sources said.

Included among the government-selected candidates will also be members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA).

While some members participate with the new political party, the two organizations will retain their current status as “social welfare groups,” according to the sources.

Sources also said the government will also provide campaign funds and offer its own candidates to other political parties that will take part in 2010 election.

According to the 2008 constitution, the military is guaranteed control of 25 percent of both the Upper House and Lower House seats in parliament.

Meanwhile, the formation of a new political party, the Democratic Party, was announced on Monday in Rangoon. The party will be headed by the daughter of late Prime Minister U Nu, along with two daughters of former high-ranking political leaders.

The main Burmese opposition party, the National League for Democracy, has said it will not participate in the election unless the government meets certain conditions. It says the election is a sham designed to perpetuate military rule under the guise of democracy.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16801
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Wednesday September 16, 07:15 AM
Myanmar allegations highlight Singapore bank secrecy

By Martin Abbugao

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Allegations that Myanmar’s junta is stashing billions of dollars in Singapore have thrown a spotlight on banking secrecy in the city-state, which strongly denies being a haven for hot money.
US-based human rights group EarthRights International says that energy majors Total and Chevron (NYSE: CVX – news) are propping up the sanctions-hit Myanmar military regime with profits from a gas project totalling nearly five billion dollars.

Total and Chevron have rejected the charge and two Singapore banks named in the ERI report as the repositories for most of the money — the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC (O39.SI – news) ) and DBS — have dismissed it as false and baseless.
In a written reply to media queries on the Myanmar funds, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it requires financial institutions to have tough controls in place to fight money laundering and financing of terrorism.

“This includes procedures to identify and know their customers, and to monitor and report any suspicious transactions,” it said.
Singapore is also amending its tax laws in cooperation with industrialised nations that are pursuing citizens who deposit their money in overseas banks.

But Transparency International, which like many other corruption monitors ranks Singapore highly for its clean and efficient government, said the city-state should promote greater transparency in its financial system.
“As long as no one wants to know where the money is coming from, it will be easy to hide money on which taxes should have been paid, but most importantly, money that should have been invested in a given country or programme,” a spokesperson for the Berlin-based group told AFP.

Wealthy Asians regard Singapore as the Switzerland of Asia, a rock-solid financial centre where savings can be kept safely and discreetly. But critics say some of the money comes from unsavoury sources.

Officials in neighbouring Indonesia are trying to recover tens of millions of dollars allegedly stashed in Singapore during the rule of the late dictator Suharto.

And rival Philippine groups are suing to gain control over more than 25 million US dollars that formerly belonged to the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and is currently frozen in an offshore bank in Singapore.

“It has been documented time and again that corrupt individuals — be they politicians, business executives or wealthy citizens — have used countries like Singapore as safe havens to stash their ill-gotten funds,” the Transparency spokesperson said.

There is growing pressure meanwhile on international banks to help governments recover taxes on assets kept overseas by their citizens.

Swiss banking giant UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX – news) recently forged a landmark deal with Washington to reveal the names of some 4,450 American clients suspected of hiding assets from US tax authorities.

That broke the cherished code of secrecy that underpins the super-rich European nation’s banking system.

Earlier this year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development included Singapore on a list of countries that have not yet fully implemented standards on the exchange of tax data needed to pursue suspected evaders.

Singapore’s government promised to amend its laws and negotiate new tax treaties to implement standards set by the OECD, the Paris-based club of industrial nations.

The government submitted a bill in parliament on Monday aimed at improving how the island shares information with countries with which it has agreements to prevent double taxation.

In 2007, the last year for when official figures are available, assets under management in Singapore totalled 814 billion US dollars, up 32 percent from 2006. About 86 percent is from foreign sources.

The MAS, Singapore’s de facto central bank, insists that investors including institutional and professional fund managers have sound reasons for parking their money here.

“Singapore’s growth and development as a wealth management centre is underpinned by high standards of financial regulation and strict supervision,” it said after UBS announced its deal with the US government.  http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/16092009/323/myanmar-allegations-highlight-singapore-bank-secrecy.html
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Mon groups merge for new political party

Sept 16, 2009 (DVB)–A new political party is being formed in Burma comprising members of a prominent ceasefire group and a party that won seats in the 1990 elections.

Members of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF), which won five seats in 1990, have merged, although are yet to announce whether they will contest the 2010 elections.

Min Soe Linn, joint secretary of the NMDF and former political prisoner, said a 15-member committee was formed in early June this year.

“The committee contains eight members from the NMDF including myself and also young and educated former NMSP members,” said Min Soe Linn.

“Rather than having about four different Mon parties we think it’s better to just have one,” he said, adding that they are undecided about the elections next year.

Board members of the new party include MNDF chairman Nai Tun Thein and deputy chairman Nai Ngwe Thein, who are also members of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP).

He added that the committee has no connection with those groups as it only stands as a working group to organise a future party.

“The new party, after being formed, will draw up its policies, work procedures and regulations. Then they will decide whether to enter the 2010 elections or not,” he said.

“We are calling a meeting on 24 September. This is pretty much the responsibility of [the committee.]”

Elections are scheduled for March next year, although critics of Burma’s ruling junta claim that the constitution guarantees continuation of military rule in the country.

The government has been embarking on a campaign in recent months to transform ceasefire groups into border patrol forces, thereby bringing them back into what it calls the ‘legal fold’.

Ceasefire groups allied with the government are also being pressured to form political parties to contest the elections, although the majority have resisted.

Growing pressure from the government on ceasefire groups sparked heavy fighting in northeastern Burma’s Shan state last month, between government troops and an ethnic Kokang ceasefire group.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2859
======================
Natural Gas transmission interlude to cost Thailand 1 billion Baht
by Usa Pichai
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 20:26

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Natural Gas transmission from Burma and the Thai Gulf has been disrupted due to a technical snag, with damages estimated at 1 billion Baht for Thailand.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has said that the pipeline from the Yetagun field of Burma was shut down for more than nine hours on September 13 and seven hours on September 12. Meanwhile, a pipeline from the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (JDA) was shut down for two hours on September 13 and five hours on the previous day.

Yetagun’s natural gas is fuel for Thailand’s largest power plant located in Ratchaburi, Western Province of Thailand and the JDA pipeline is vital for the Channa power plant in the Southern Province.

An estimated 2,000 megawatts or 10 per cent of the country’s requirement of electricity suffered due to the gas shortage during the weekend.

Wirat Kanchanapibun, spokesperson of EGAT, said the incidents had given rise to concerns regarding the energy security in Southern Thailand.

The EGAT has solved the problem by buying electricity from Malaysia to the tune of 150 megawatts and also by generating electricity from the hydropower dam in Surat Thani Province and from the fuel oil power plant at Ratchaburi Province. A total of 240 megawatts has been generated for the Southern Province.

Moreover, EGAT decided to take a risk, by releasing water from the Srinakarin Dam in Kanchanaburi Province, close to the Burmese border to generate power.

Last month, due to the gas pipeline leakage, EGAT decided to release water from the Srinakarin Dam, which resulted in flooding of large areas and severely affected hundreds of local villagers.

The total estimated expenditure due to gas stoppage is likely to amount to 1 billion Baht, an official from EGAT opined.

Panu Sutthirat, Manager of the Natural Gas Supply Department of Petroleum Authority of Thailand (currently the PTT Public Co. Ltd.) denied that the company was responsible for the transmission from both sources, “Natural gas transmission is the responsibility of Petronas Corp. The problem at Yetagun is because of changing of the oil rig. PTT Plc used another source to substitute the electricity production, but could not cover the whole amount which was the actual deficit due to the failure,” he said.

Manoon Siriwan, a Thai independent energy expert, said that the electricity generation of Thailand was at risk because of 70% dependence on natural gas.

“Even Malaysia and Indonesia have higher natural gas reserves than Thailand, but they also use other sources to produce electricity to decrease the risk. In addition, recently all kinds of power plant projects have been disrupted in Thailand,” according to a report in the Thai website Manager.

In Thailand, several power plant projects have been disrupted by local villagers, due to fear of environmental hazards, including a coal power plant and biomass (bio-fuel) power plant.

However, the case has drawn reactions from environmentalists, who apprehend that it would lead to more governmental investments in mega projects, to serve energy demands, particularly hydropower projects in neighbouring countries like both Laos and Burma.  http://mizzima.com/news/regional/2772-natural-gas-transmission-interlude-to-cost-thailand-1-billion-baht-.html
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Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009
Birkin seeks Myanmar sanctions
By NATSUKO FUKUE
Staff writer

British singer and actress Jane Birkin held a news conference Tuesday in Tokyo to urge the incoming government to pressure Myanmar’s military junta to promote democracy.

Birkin, 62, who wrote a song called “Aung San Suu Kyi” and has participated in demonstrations against the junta, is in Tokyo for a concert this week.

She said sanctions should be placed on Myanmar, which has been under military rule for nearly 50 years, but they must be effective because they could also harm ordinary people.

“You’re lucky because you’ve got a new government” and it is a good opportunity for Japanese people to make new demands for supporting Myanmar citizens, Birkin added.

She said ordinary people can help Myanmar by writing a letter to their government or boycotting companies doing business with the junta.

Yuki Akimoto of the Burma Information Network based in Tokyo stressed the importance of supporting local citizens. Japan should focus on helping the people of Myanmar, such as by offering humanitarian support for refugees or assisting in the prevention of infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, she said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090916a8.html
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Burma’s prime minister to attend UN General Assembly
By Deutsche Presse Agentur

The prime minister would be the highest ranking official to attend a UN General Assembly since General Maung Aye, currently vice senior general, attended the 50th Anniversary Special Commemorative Session of the United Nations General Assembly in October 1995.

Political sources in Rangoon said Thein Sein was likely to outline the ruling junta’s plan to introduce limited political reform in his speech to the assembly.

In recent years Burma has sent its foreign minister to attend the gathering.

An official from the United States embassy in Rangoon said he did not know about the prime minister’s decision. It was uncertain whether Thein Sein would meet with US officials during his stay in New York.

The decision to send Thein Sein follows a visit to Rangoon last month by US Senator Jim Webb, Democrat from Virginia, in what some analysts have seen as a slight thaw in the frosty diplomatic relations between Washington and Yangon.

“It may be a significant trip,” an observer in Rangoon commented on the prime minister’s planned visit to New York. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/09/16/regional/regional_30112346.php