New currency note in Myanmar raises concerns Story Highlights
Thai nationals sentenced to death
Burma orders 10,000 Chinese to leave
American claims mistreatment in Myanmar prison
Myanmar opposition leader ready to talk sanctions with junta
China raps Myanmar after recent border unrest
POLITICS: U.S. Policy Shift on Burma Gets Mixed Reactions
All hotels in beach resort to reopen in Myanmar next month
Myanmar asks Chinese to leave border area – media
Suu Kyi backs US engagement with Burma
Burmese-American Tortured in Prison: AI
New 5,000 Kyat Note Sparks Inflation Fears
Campbell to Lead US Burma Engagement
Confusion Surrounds Burmese Migrant ‘Passport’
Engaging Naypyidaw
NUP to contest election with fresh blood
Myanmar: Community awareness key in TB fight

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New currency note in Myanmar raises concerns Story Highlights

The new 5,000 kyat note is worth less than US$5

By Kocha Olarn

CNN

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — Myanmar’s government announced Thursday that it will begin circulating a new currency note next week.

The new note would be the largest unveiled by the military regime.

The 5,000 kyat note, which is worth less than US$5, will be the largest bank note that the southeast Asian country has ever had. It will be released into circulation on October 1, according to an announcement on Myanmar’s state-run MRTV.

There was no explanation for the government’s decision to introduce the new bill. Currently, the largest note is the 1,000 kyat bill, which is worth less than $1

The announcement has raised concerns that Myanmar’s economy is not faring well, said a veteran independent journalist who lives in Yangon. He declined to be named citing security concerns.

Myanmar is a closed country whose military rulers have a tight grip on information and do not tolerate dissent or criticism.

The journalist said the cost of living is already high for the average person in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. The decision to introduce the 5,000 kyat bill could depreciate the value of the country’s currency and have broader economic repercussions, he said.

The sudden cancellation of some Burmese currencies in 1987 sparked anger and led to a mass demonstration in August 1988.

At that time, people’s savings were diminished overnight.

http://www.cnn. com/2009/ BUSINESS/ 09/24/myanmar. new.currency/

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Thai nationals sentenced to death

Sept 25, 2009 (DVB)–Two Thai nationals found guilty of the murder of four Burmese men in western Thailand have been sentenced to death by a court in the town of Mae Sot, close to the Burmese border.

The four men, all of whom were migrant labourers, had been working on a corn plantation in Ban Jaidee Koh, near to Mae Sot, when in September 2007 they were handcuffed and taken to a nearby village.

They were then shot dead. A fifth man who had also been taken was shot, but managed to escape to another village, where he was then taken to hospital.

The two Thai men, identified as Nai Payom, 45, and Nai Phalom, were sentenced on Tuesday. They have been given a month to appeal the verdict.

Speaking to DVB yesterday, the aunt of one of the victims, 35-year-old Ah Htun, expressed her continued anger at the murder. “I feel like eating those guys alive,” she said.

The exact number of Burmese migrants living in Thailand is unknown, although estimates range up to two million.

Many of these are have no legal status in Thailand, and therefore struggle to acquire the same labour rights that registered workers do.

A system set up by the Thai government was put into action in July this year that would see the verification of Burmese migrants at various centres along the Thai-Burma border.

Reporting by Maung Too

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Burma orders 10,000 Chinese to leave

Sept 25, 2009 (DVB)–Up to 10,000 Chinese nationals have been ordered by the Burmese government to leave the Kokang enclave in northeastern Burma, which was last month the scene of heavy fighting.

Rumours have spread throughout the region that fighting could again erupt between the Burmese army and a Kokang armed group, Reuters reported today.

A Burmese military analyst based in the China-Burma border could not confirm the reports, although the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday advised its citizens not to travel to the region, and for Chinese businessmen in the region to exercise caution.

“The Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy in Myanmar [Burma] remind Chinese citizens and companies who are already in Northern Myanmar to pay attention to security risks,” a statement on the foreign ministry website said.

The news coincides with reports that China is setting up new refugee camps close to its border with Burma, in anticipation of a fresh influx of refugees.

According to the Kachin News Group, the orders and funding to build the camps came directly from Beijing.

The three camps are around the Salween River that flows from China into Burma and are said to be able to accommodate around 15,000 people.

Around 37,000 civilians in the Kokang region in Shan state fled into China last month after the eruption of fighting. Chinese authorities reportedly provided food and shelter to the refugees, the majority of whom have since returned.

The influx of refugees pushed China into issuing a rare rebuke to the Burmese government, urging it to “properly deal with its domestic issue to safeguard the regional stability in the China-Myanmar border area”.

A report released by International Crisis Group last month said that the problem didn’t stop at conflict between the government and ethnic groups.

“Myanmar’s borders continue to leak all sorts of problems – not just insurgency, but also drugs, HIV/AIDS and, recently, tens of thousands of refugees,” it said.

Reporting by Joseph Allchin http://english. dvb.no/news. php?id=2893

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Sep 25, 9:30 AM EDT

American claims mistreatment in Myanmar prison

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The U.S. Embassy said Friday it has made a formal complaint to Myanmar’s military government after a Myanmar-born American claimed he was mistreated in prison.

Kyaw Zaw Lin was secretly arrested Sept. 3 on arrival at Yangon airport. Dissident groups reported his disappearance but his whereabouts were unknown until he was allowed a U.S. consular visit Sept. 20 at Myanmar’s notorious Insein Prison.

Myanmar authorities on Wednesday accused Kyaw Zaw Lwin of seeking to incite political unrest, according to reports on state radio and television. They claimed he had confessed to plotting with dissident groups outside the country, and accused him of being linked to several activists inside Myanmar who planned to set off bombs.

“The embassy early this week submitted an official complaint to the government, protesting mistreatment of the American citizen,” embassy spokesman Drake Weisert said Friday. He declined to disclose details about the alleged mistreatment.

“He is a U.S. citizen and we will continue to give him consular access and provide assistance anyway we can,” Weisert said. According to dissident groups, Kyaw Zaw Lin is a resident of Maryland.

Myanmar’s government does not have an official spokesman and there was no immediate official reaction to the embassy’s complaint.

Another American, 53-year-old John Yettaw, said he was not mistreated during the three months he spent in Insein Prison after being arrested for sneaking into the house of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Yettaw, of Falcon, Missouri, was sentenced to seven years in prison but was released on humanitarian grounds and deported on Aug. 16.

Wednesday’s official news report said Kyaw Zaw Lwin entered Myanmar to stir up protests by Buddhist monks, who earlier spearheaded pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 that were brutally suppressed by the junta.

The report said Kyaw Zaw Lwin is a member of the dissident group the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin’s mother is serving a five-year jail term for political activities and his sister was sentenced to 65 years in prison for her role in the 2007 pro-democracy protests, activist groups and family members said.

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Copyright 2008 Associated Press http://hosted. ap.org/dynamic/ stories/A/ AS_MYANMAR_ DETAINED_ AMERICAN? SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09- 25-09-30- 18

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Myanmar opposition leader ready to talk sanctions with junta

Asia-Pacific News

Sep 25, 2009, 12:33 GMT

Yangon – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to cooperate with the ruling junta in order to get the West to lift economic sanctions imposed on the country, as long as three conditions are met, a key spokesman said Friday.

‘Daw (Madame) Aung San Suu Kyi has written a letter to Senior General Than Shwe regarding the sanctions issue,’ said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi. Than Shwe is Myanmar’s current military strongman.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, met with Nyan Win at her house-cum-prison in Yangon for an hour Friday to spell out her views on economic sanctions following indications that the administration of US President Barack Obama is seeking to ‘engage’ with the military regime.

Suu Kyi has indicated that she is not opposed to Western sanctions against Myanmar, one of her major bargaining chips against the regime, be lifted, as long as there is ‘engagement’ on both sides.

In her letter to Than Shwe, Suu Kyi said it was necessary to discuss three points – which countries have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar, the impact of the sanctions and why they were imposed.

Economic sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar since 1988, when the military brutally cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, leaving an estimated 3,000 people dead.

The US and European Union stepped up their sanctions over the years as the junta first refused to acknowledge Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) victory at the 1990 polls and then proceeded to arrest critics and squash all forms of dissent.

Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest, where she remains today.

Earlier this year, junta chief Than Shwe hinted that he would be willing to open a political dialogue with Suu Kyi if she agreed to cooperate in making the West lift the sanctions.

To date, Than Shwe has refused to talk to Suu Kyi. Discussing why the sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar, would amount to a discussion of NLD’s demands.

Most western nations have demanded that Than Shwe release Suu Kyi and some 2,000 other political prisoners as a first step towards democratization in the country, which has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi and the NLD demand the same thing.

On Wednesday US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told journalists on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that the US administration decided on a double-pronged approach of both engagement and continued sanctions.

‘We believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy, but by themselves, they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma,’ Clinton said, referring to the South-East Asian country by its former name.

‘Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion,’ she said.

Congress was to be informed about details of the planned talks on Thursday.

Washington has been calling on Myanmar’s military, which has ruled the country since 1962, to improve its human rights record, allow democratic reforms and release political prisoners, among them Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ahead of a planned general election in 2010.

http://www.monsters andcritics. com/news/ asiapacific/ news/article_ 1503184.php/ Myanmar-oppositi on-leader- ready-to- talk-sanctions- with-junta

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Friday September 25, 2009

China raps Myanmar after recent border unrest

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – China rapped erstwhile ally Myanmar on Friday over violence along the border that pushed tens of thousands of refugees into China last month, as state media reported Myanmar had ordered Chinese citizens to leave the area.

Refugees from Myanmar’s Wa state ride on a tractor to the China-Myanmar border gate at the border town of Mangka, in China’s Yunnan province, September 1, 2009. China rapped erstwhile ally Myanmar on Friday over violence along the border that pushed tens of thousands of refugees into China last month. (REUTERS/Stringer/ Files)

In August, Myanmar’s army overran Kokang, a territory that lies along the border with the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan and was controlled for years by an ethnic Chinese militia that paid little heed to the central government.

Many of the refugees were ethnic Chinese, some of whom were Chinese citizens, and complained their houses and businesses had been sacked and looted during the violence.

Earlier this week, Wei Wei, the head of China’s foreign ministry’s consular affairs department, summoned a Myanmar diplomat to complain about the treatment of Chinese citizens in the area during the clashes, the Foreign Ministry said.

Wei “made representations about harm caused to the rights of Chinese citizens in Myanmar, restated China’s position, demanded Myanmar rapidly investigate, punish law-breakers and report the results to China,” the ministry said in a statement on its website (www.mfa.gov. cn).

Myanmar should “take prompt measures, earnestly protect the legal rights of Chinese citizens in Myanmar, and make sure similar incidents do not happen again,” it added.

Separately, Chinese state media reported Myanmar has asked Chinese citizens to leave the part of the border where August’s fighting erupted.

Myanmar has ordered at least 10,000 Chinese citizens who are in the Kokang enclave but have no legal credentials to leave by Monday, the Global Times said, citing local sources.

Rumours spread among Chinese in the border area that fighting could restart soon in areas hit by unrest, the report added.

China’s foreign ministry declined immediate comment on the latest reports, but on Thursday it had issued a statement warning its citizens about the dangers of Kokang.

“The Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy in Myanmar remind Chinese citizens and companies who are already in Northern Myanmar to pay attention to security risks,” said the statement, also posted on the ministry’s website.

The statement suggested Chinese citizens planning to go to the norther part of the former Burma should suspend their trips.

(Additional reporting by Yu Le and Emma Graham-Harrison)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters http://thestar. com.my/news/ story.asp? file=/2009/ 9/25/worldupdate s/2009-09- 25T172207Z_ 01_NOOTR_ RTRMDNC_0_ -427031-2&sec=Worldupdates

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POLITICS: U.S. Policy Shift on Burma Gets Mixed Reactions

By Larry Jagan

BANGKOK, Sep 25 (IPS) – The shift in the United States policy towards Burma has been met with mixed reactions, with few believing it will have an impact. But the South-east Asian state’s detained opposition leader has already endorsed Washington’s move to start talks with the reclusive regime.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that direct engagement is good,” said her lawyer and spokesman for her party, the National League for Democracy, Nyan Win. “She accepts it, but she says that engagement must be with both sides,” he told local journalists in Rangoon.

Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revealed Washington’s change in policy towards the junta, and that now the U.S. government would pursue a policy of engagement as well as sanctions to help bring democratic change to Burma.

“Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion,” she announced Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. “So, going forward we will be employing both of these tools … to help achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly with the Burmese authorities. ”

“We want credible, democratic reform, a government that responds to the needs of the Burmese people, the immediate, unconditional release of political prisoners … (and) serious dialogue with the opposition and minority ethnic groups,” Clinton said.

The pro-democracy movement abroad reacted cautiously. “We must warily welcome it,” said a spokesman for the exiled democratic opposition based in Thailand, Zin Linn. “We cannot expect much, but if it helps get Aung San Suu Kyi released, then it is certainly a very good move.”

Inside Burma, most people are more sceptical. “Nothing can budge them (the military junta), they don’t listen to anyone, and they don’t care about anything other than themselves,” a small stall holder in Rangoon, told Inter Press Service.

Most people don’t think it will work, said a Burmese journalist on condition of anonymity. “It’s an OK approach, but it’s too late – what can be done now with elections planned next year? There’s not enough time to change the generals’ minds,” he said.

But for many analysts and diplomats who follow Burmese affair closely, this may be a case of the U.S. trying to have its cake and eat it. “It’s a change of style rather than substance – Mr Obama is doing the same with Pyongyang, Damascus, Havana and Tehran,” said the former British ambassador to Thailand and Vietnam, Derek Tonkin. “The policy is likely to produce better results than Bush’s unilateralism. ”

The U.S. has been reviewing its policy towards Burma ever since the new administration took office in January. In fact, state department officials say the review was ordered almost within days of Obama winning the elections. The general conclusion, though, was heavily hinted at as early as February, when Clinton told Indonesian president Susilo Yudhono on a visit to Jakarta that sanctions against Burma had not worked and a more nuanced policy towards it was needed.

The U.S. held high-level talks directly with senior representatives of the Burmese government in Beijing in July 2007, brokered by the Chinese government. A future meeting, tentatively planned for November, was scotched when the junta violently cracked down on the mass anti-government protests in Rangoon led by Buddhist monks.

“This is nothing new – it’s a return to the ‘carrot and stick’ approach of the ‘90s,” said Sein Kyaw Hlaing, an editor of the Burmese dissident news website, ‘Hitpyaing’ or ‘The New Era Journal’. Then it was the World Bank and the U.N. that took the initiative and offered aid and investment incentives in return for political concessions. “It did not work then and it won’t work now,” he said.

There is no doubt that in recent months the Burmese junta has begun to court the West, especially the U.S. The recent high-profile visit of the American senator Jim Webb clearly showed the junta’s interest in engaging Washington. His reception in the capital, Naypyidaw, was on par with that which is strictly reserved for visiting heads of state, according to diplomats based in Rangoon. And his welcome was even more enthusiastic than that given to the U.N. secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, when he visited Burma in July.

Burma’s neighbours and fellow members of the regional grouping ASEAN have also been encouraging the junta to seize the opportunity to reach out to Washington as it reviewed its overall policy and strategy towards the military regime. Singapore, in particular, has been at the forefront of this move. But while the generals may be keen to improve relations with the U.S., they are also keen to have sanctions lifted. As the international economic crisis and credit crunch begins to bite, they are anxious to reduce the impact sanctions have had on the country.

What Washington offers for talks with the regime may yet determine how successful this shift in U.S. policy will be. “Words are not enough,” said Tonkin. “The U.S. needs to make some concrete gesture, like removing sanctions which seriously affect the people, like the embargo on garment exports.”

But it is a start, according to some analysts. The sanctions policy largely failed because it was purely punitive – ratcheted up when the regime did anything unacceptable – cracking down on the monks, arresting more and more political activists, and sentencing Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months under house arrest on trumped-up charges – but never finding ways of reducing them.

“With this change in policy, the U.S. will have more leverage, and not just rely on pressure,” Win Min, a Burmese academic at Chiang Mai University, told IPS. “It’s important to be able to talk directly to the junta, and tell them what they expect.”

“Direct engagement is very important, and more effective, I think,” said Nyan Win.

But so far the U.S. does not seem to be suggesting anything practical. State department officials are coy when questioned about what sort of contact and at what level was planned. Suggestions that senior U.S. diplomats, and even Clinton herself, might meet the Burmese prime minister himself when he is in New York have been dismissed. Privately, though, some government officials admit that at the moment anything is possible.

“If we (the U.S.) made any – were to make any adjustments going forward, it would be based on tangible progress by Burma,” a senior U.S. state department official told journalists after the policy change was announced. So far, the most concrete step seems to be the proposed appointment of special envoys by both countries to be responsible for taking the engagement process forward.

The change in the U.S. position has been overwhelmingly welcomed in the region. Singapore foreign minister George Yeo supported the move when he spoke at the U.N. “Singapore sees the army as being part of the problem but also as a necessary part of the solution,” he said. “What is required is a process of national reconciliation. ”

For some analysts, the change in the U.S. policy will also give Washington more influence in Asia, which has largely protected Burma from sanctions and international pressure. “With this shift in policy towards talking with the region, the U.S. will find it can rally support around the Burma issue within Asia,” said Win Min. “In the past there has been a major divide between them, largely over the issue of the U.S. sanction policy – which all Asian countries oppose,” believing in a policy of engagement.

Over the past 21 years since the military seized power in a bloody coup, there have been frequent attempts to find ways to get the junta to respect human rights and introduce democratic change. In the past it was the United Nations and Asia that took the initiatives – especially ASEAN and Japan. Most of these have proved to be abject failures because the regime was not interested in engaging the outside world. They were happy with their isolation.

Things have changed now and Burma’s generals realise that they must open up. The U.S.’s policy shift may just be the incentive that helps produce real change in Burma. The first test will be whether the top generals can bite the bullet and free Aung San Suu Kyi in the near future – as that is what would be seen as a real sign of progress.

(END/2009) http://www.ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 48589

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All hotels in beach resort to reopen in Myanmar next month

www.chinaview. cn  2009-09-25 18:50:16      Print

YANGON, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) — All hotels in a famous beach resort in Myanmar’s southwestern Ayeyawaddy division will reopen next month after it has been closed for non-tourism season, hotel sources said on Friday.

As it is approaching the open season with public holidays falling and packed with traditional festivals, the opening date of Ngwe Saung resort hotel is set for Oct. 1, the sources said, adding that, unlike the previous years, the beach resort will add more interesting entertainment programs for local and foreign travelers as it coincides with the 10th anniversary of the opening of the beach.

Meanwhile, an airport at Ngwesaung is being planned to facilitate the visitors the tourist site which is 46 km from Pathein, capital city of the division.

On completion of the airport project, a three-hour drive from Yangon to reach Ngwesaung will be replaced by minutes’ flight.

With a coast of extending as about 14 kilometers, the Ngwesaung stands the nearest beach resort from Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, attracting a large number of foreign visitors rather thanlocal’s, hoteliers said, revealing that the number of tourists coming to Ngwesaung exceeded that arriving at Ngapali, another famous resort in western Rakhine state.

Once the airport is built, the Ngwesaung beach resort will become the second which is accessible by air after Ngapali.

There is also other famous resort, which is Chaungtha in the same Ayeyawaddy division.

Myanmar’s tourism business started to drop near the end of 2007and continued in 2008 during which deadly cyclone Nargis was experienced. Moreover, the global financial crisis, which sparked in late 2008, also delayed Myanmar’s tourism development.

According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar in the fiscal year 2008-09, which ended in March, totaled over 255,280.

The country targets a tourist arrival of 1 million in the present 2009-10 fiscal year which began in April.

Editor: Anne Tang  http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/ 2009-09/25/ content_12112057 .htm

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Myanmar asks Chinese to leave border area – media

BEIJING (Reuters) – Myanmar has asked Chinese citizens to leave a border area where fighting between government troops and rebel militias pushed tens of thousands of refugees into China last month, Chinese state media reported on Friday.

Myanmar has ordered at least 10,000 Chinese citizens who are in the Kokang enclave but have no legal credentials to leave by Monday, the Global Times said, citing local sources.

Rumours spread among Chinese in the border area that fighting could restart soon in areas hit by unrest, the report added.

In August, Myanmar’s army overran Kokang, a territory run for years by an ethnic Chinese militia that paid little heed to the central government.

China’s foreign ministry declined immediate comment on the latest reports, but on Thursday it had issued a statement warning its citizens about the dangers of Kokang.

“The Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy in Myanmar remind Chinese citizens and companies who are already in Northern Myanmar to pay attention to security risks,” said the statement, posted on the ministry’s website (www.mfa.gov. cn).

The statement also suggested Chinese citizens planning to go to Northern Myanmar should suspend their trips.

(Reporting by Yu Le and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Ken Wills and Jerry Norton)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

http://thestar. com.my/news/ story.asp? file=/2009/ 9/25/worldupdate s/2009-09- 25T141725Z_ 01_NOOTR_ RTRMDNC_0_ -427031-1&sec=Worldupdates

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Suu Kyi backs US engagement with Burma

RANGOON, BURMA Sep 25 2009 10:21

Burma’s detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will support United States plans to engage with the isolated nation but only if opposition groups are involved in any dialogue, her party said.

Suu Kyi’s backing followed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s announcement that Washington wanted dialogue with the country’s military rulers but would not lift its tight sanctions on them.

“[Suu Kyi] said she had always supported the idea of engagement. However, that engagement should be done with both the military government and the democratic forces,” said Nyan Win, spokesperson for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Nyan Win met with Suu Kyi on Thursday after US embassy officials in Rangoonn briefed the NLD about the rapprochement plans. Nyan Win gave no details about what was discussed.

Analysts said the development was positive for both sides although it was far from clear what the two sides could agree on.

Speaking in New York on Wednesday, Clinton did not elaborate on the engagement plans, giving no indication about a timeframe, who would lead talks and what demands would be made in order for sanctions to be lifted.

The US has imposed sanctions on Burma since 1988, when about 3 000 people were killed in an army crackdown on pro-democracy activists.

US ties with Burma appear to be less frosty than in recent years and last month’s visit by US Senator Jim Webb — the first by a senior US official in more than a decade — was hailed by the junta as a big success.

Clinton said in July that the US would help Burma if its army rulers held free, fair and inclusive elections and released Suu Kyi, who has been in detention, or “protective custody”, for 14 of the past 20 years. http://www.mg. co.za/article/ 2009-09-25- suu-kyi-backs- us-engagement- with-burma

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Burmese-American Tortured in Prison: AI

By KO HTWE Friday, September 25, 2009

Amnesty international has issued a statement of grave concern about Burmese-American activist Nyi Nyi Aung (aka Kyaw Zaw Lwin), who it says has been tortured and suffered other ill-treatment while in detention in Insein Prison in Rangon.

Nyi Nyi Aung, who has dual citizenship, was arrested in Rangoon on Sept. 3 after returning from exile.

While in detention he has been tortured including beatings and kicking, lack of food for seven days, no sleep and denial of medical treatment for injuries sustained while tortured, said the report.

The New Light of Myanmar, the state-backed newspaper, reported in detail on Thursday on Nyi Nyi Aung’s arrest. The report included photographs of Nyi Nyi Aung, explosives and a satellite phone he was alleged to have had in his possession.

The story described underground activities allegedly undertaken by Nyi Nyi Aung and connections between dissidents inside and outside Burma.

Nyi Nyi Aung’s mother, San San Tin, is severing a 5-year prison sentence and his cousin, Thet Thet Aung, is serving a 65-year prison sentence for participating in the anti-government demonstrations in September 2007.

Meanwhile, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released a statement on Thursday that welcomed the amnesty of prisoners and noted reports of torture undergone by some detainees during interrogation and imprisonment.

The AHRC said torture and abuse of prisoners is endemic across Burma and singled out Myo Yan Naung Thein, Bo Bo and Aung Myint as having been tortured after their arrest and imprisonment followed by a lack of appropriate medical treatment.

The statement called on the junta to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit detention facilities in Burma without further delay.

Also, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) issued a statement criticizing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) silence on Burma at the recent UN Human Rights Council meeting and called on Asean to stand with victims of human rights abuses in Burma.

Yap Swee Seng, the executive director of Forum-Asia, said “While we appreciate the efforts of some governments to make a joint appeal of the Asean at the General Assembly for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, we deeply regret that the same effort has not been taken at the Human Rights Council nor has any Asean member country spoke out on Burma in its own national capacity.”

http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16858

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New 5,000 Kyat Note Sparks Inflation Fears

By SAW YAN NAING Friday, September 25, 2009

The Burmese regime is to issue a new 5,000 kyat currency note on October 1, raising fears of an increase in consumer prices as more paper money goes into circulation.

Following an official announcement on Thursday evening of the new issue, the price of gold increased on Friday and the value of the kyat fell on currency markets.

Sean Turnell, an economist at Australia’s Macquarie University, who produces a regular Burma Economic Watch report, said: “There will be a scramble into hard currencies, gold, and any other ’store of value’ medium that cannot be touched by the regime. We should expect a short sharp decline in the value of the kyat as a consequence. ”

The price of gold rose on Friday from 590,000 kyat ($530) for one tical of 24-carat of the precious metal to 600,000 kyat ($538) per tical. One tical is equal to 0.525 troy ounces.

The black market value of the kyat fell from 1,060 to 1,140 kyat to the US dollar.

Uncertainty over the implications of the introduction of a 5,000 kyat note caused most currency and gold traders to suspend business until Monday, a Rangoon trader told The Irrawaddy.

Money changers at the Thai-Burmese border also suspended transactions in kyat.

The new note—red in color and with an elephant as motif—will join the 1,000, 500, 200 and 50 kyat notes now in circulation. They will remain legal tender, the official media reports said.

Turnell warned that the issue of the new note could lead to a rise in inflation.

“A big outstanding issue is whether the issue of these notes is in addition to the existing stock of notes or not,” he said. “If there is a net addition to the money stock because of this, then the issue of the new 5,000 kyat note will add to Burma’s inflation problem. It will, after all, simply be yet more ‘money printing.’”

Traditionally, the Burmese junta has never announced how much money is in circulation.

The International Monetary Fund, however, estimates it to be 2,651.1 billion kyat at the official exchange rate. Calculated at Friday’s black market exchange rate, however, only about $2.4 billion is in circulation. http://www.irrawadd y.org/highlight. php?art_id= 16860

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Campbell to Lead US Burma Engagement

By LALIT K JHA  Friday, September 25, 2009

WASHINGTON—The Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, will be leading US policy for Burma as of now, and more interlocutors would be announced in the coming days to engage with the military junta and Burmese people, Ian Kelly, the spokesman for the US State Department, said on Thursday.

“Right now, it’s Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell [leading the Burma policy],” said Kelly. “I think that there will be other interlocutors who will be named soon as well.”

US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell answers questions during a press conference in Tokyo. (Photo: GettyImages)

The new Burma Policy, which was previewed by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before the 14-member UN Secretary General’s Friends on Burma at the UN headquarters in New York, entails both sanctions and engagement simultaneously.

The details of the policy are expected to be announced by Campbell on Friday.

“The end goal for our policy has not changed. Our goal is credible democratic reform in Burma,” Kelly said.

“We want a government that responds to the needs of its people; a government that frees political prisoners unconditionally, including Aung San Suu Kyi; and the start of a dialogue, of a constructive dialogue, with the political opposition there,” he said.

Reiterating that sanctions would continue to be part of the new policy, Kelly said: “But sanctions or isolation has not, in and of themselves, produced the kind of result that we’ve been looking for.”

Referring to the statement made by Clinton at the UN on Wednesday, Kelly said: “We believe this dichotomy, this sanctions versus engagement, is a false dichotomy, that we shouldn’t have to choose between one or the other.”

The US administration, Kelly said, wants to employ both pressure and engagement dealing with the Burmese government.

“As I said before, what we want is what the international community wants, and that’s genuine democratic reform in Burma,” he said.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy. org

http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16861

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Confusion Surrounds Burmese Migrant ‘Passport’

By LAWI WENG  Friday, September 25, 2009

Burmese migrant workers in Thailand say they are charged higher fees for the national identification paper, or “passport” than they expected and confusion about the real cost and how to obtain the identification paper abound, according to migrant sources.

Sources in Chiang Mai and Bangkok said that they were charged more than 7,000 baht (US $250), while the reputed price should be about 5,000 baht, according to migrant workers.

The new nationality identification paper allows Burmese migrants to work in Thailand and have access to the same social welfare benefits as Thai workers, including legal support and medical services for their children.

Burmese migrants say there is still a great deal of confusion about how to acquire the nationality identification paper because of lack of information, including the real cost.

According to an official at the Thai Ministry of Labor, after the paperwork is processed in Thailand, migrants are charged 2,000 baht ($60) for a visa to stay in Thailand. The Burmese government fee is 300 kyat ($ 0.30 cents), according to the Weekly Eleven News Journal.

Adisorn Kerdmongkol, a team organizer with the Migrant Working Group (MWG) based in Bangkok, said the Thai government must publicize the cost better, otherwise migrants will be exploited by agencies that help them obtain the paper.

The Thai government said a problem lies in the lack of a Burmese office in Bangkok to process the papers, according to the Thai Ministry of Labor.

A ministry official told The Irrawaddy on Friday, “We told the Burmese government several times to establish an office in Bangkok for issuing papers to the migrants. It seems they don’t care about their people.”

Instead, the Burmese government has opened offices for processing the paper work at three border points: Myawaddy, Tachilek and Kawthaung.

The Thai government hopes that the new passport registration process would help stop the influx of illegal Burmese migrants into Thailand by offering the opportunity to work in the country legally.

Meanwhile, there are growing numbers of Thai and Burmese-run agencies in Chiang Mai and Bangkok that advertise to help complete the paperwork process for migrants. Some agencies charge more than 10,000 baht ($300), according to migrants.

Migrant sources in Samut Sakhon Province said there are three Thai agencies in Mahachai, close to Bangkok, that offer migrants help.

“These companies only know about how to take money from migrants. The real price is not more than 1,000 baht,” said Aie Lawi Mon, who helps Burmese migrants in Mahachai.

“Many workers don’t know how to apply for the papers. They are also unclear what kind of benefits they will get from the new passport documents,” he said.

Meanwhile, Burma’s Weekly Eleven News Journal reported that about 1,000 migrants have applied for the passport at the three border points.

According to the Chiang Mai-based Migrant Assistance Program (MAP), there are an estimated 4 million Burmese migrants living and working in Thailand. MAP officials say many migrants don’t want to apply for a passport because they are afraid the Burmese government will arrest them.

There were reportedly several migrants arrested at Myawaddy Township recently when they went to process paperwork. Some migrants said the Burmese authorities demanded money from their families in Burma after they had registered for a passport.

The Burmese government has printed leaflets, saying, “No taxes, no arrest, and not many questions,” in an effort to get Burmese migrants to participate in the program.

The deadline to apply for the national identification paper is February 2010. The Thai government has said that migrants who do not have the paper will be deported to Burma.

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6 Burmese Migrants Die in Malaysia Detention

By JULIA ZAPPEI / AP WRITER

KUALA LUMPUR — An official says six Burmese migrants have died while in detention in Malaysia because of a suspected waterborne disease caused by rat urine.

The immigration department official says the six men—detained for being in Malaysia illegally—fell ill last month. They died in hospital days later. All six had complained of severe internal aches.

The official said Friday the detainees were believed to have contracted leptospirosis, a disease from water contaminated by rat urine.

He said the detainees likely contracted the disease in another center. They were transferred together with some 700 others after a riot there.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy. org http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16859

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COMMENTARY

Engaging Naypyidaw

By AUNG ZAW  Friday, September 25, 2009

If the United States believes engaging the repressive regime in Burma will change the behavior of the generals, I would just like to say, “Good luck, but I’m afraid that leopards don’t change their spots!”

In fact, the “new” US policy on Burma comes not so long after the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act 2008, the US’s attempt at a strong-arm policy on the generals.

The 2008 act has three aims: to impose new financial sanctions and travel restrictions on the leaders of the junta and their associates; to tighten the economic sanctions imposed in 2003 by outlawing the importation of Burmese gems to the US; and to create a new position of special representative and policy coordinator for Burma.

The proposed US special envoy would have the task of working with Burma’s neighbors and other interested countries, such as those within the EU and Asean.

The envoy’s mission would also involve developing a comprehensive approach to the Burma crisis, including pressure, dialogue and support for nongovernmental organizations providing humanitarian relief to the Burmese people.

It remains to be seen if the Obama administration is going to appoint the special US envoy to Burma anytime in the near future.

Burmese dissidents and observers by and large think that the generals in Naypyidaw may be more receptive to a US envoy than someone from the UN or EU—after all, we all witnessed how generously Snr-Gen Than Shwe treated US Senator Jim Webb in August.

In any case, the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act was a mixture of sanctions and engagement. Unsurprisingly, the new US policy on Burma is a mixed bag of sticks and carrots.

In her most recent statement, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion.

“Going forward we will be employing both of those tools,” Clinton said, but added that lifting sanctions would send the wrong signal.

On the surface, the substance of the policy is to encourage credible, democratic reforms and the immediate release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and serious dialogue with opposition and ethnic minority groups.

Speaking on behalf of detained democracy leader Suu Kyi, party spokesman Nyan Win said that she accepted the concept of engagement by the new US administration.

In fact, the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s message to the US is clear and well-calculated.

“She said she has always espoused engagement,” Nyan Win said. “However, [she] suggested that engagement has to be done with both sides—the government as well as the democratic forces.”

The statement forces the US to ponder whether it can be seen to betray or abandon the pro-democracy camp in Burma and the issue of human rights.

In any case, several pundits and scholars have voiced their opinions on the “new US policy”; however, I think it is important to listen to Burmese who continue to live under the regime.

I believe the main skeptics of the new US policy are the oppressed Burmese citizens, and political dissidents and Buddhist monks who remain in prison.

On the international front, the generals’ powerful allies China, India and Russia will be carefully eyeing the US’s new approach.

I believe an extra dimension to the Obama government’s new engagement policy is the issue of China.

China remains the junta’s major arms supplier and trading partner. It offers security guarantees at the United Nations Security Council, investment and trade links, as well as development assistance.

However, Beijing was displeased by the instability on its border when the Burmese government forces attacked ethnic Chinese and the Kokang ethnic rebel group recently.

China’s repeated requests to solve the issue peacefully went ignored. Beijing must have seen this as a breach of their fraternal relationship and time to reassess its own Burma policy.

In a rare move by China, the foreign ministry spoke out urging Burma to “properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the China-Burma border region” and to “protect the security and legal rights” of China’s citizens in the country.

“The insular and nationalistic generals do not take orders from anyone, including Beijing,” said Robert Templer, International Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director.

Regarding China-Burma relations, Templer warned: “By continuing to simply expect China to take the lead in solving the problem, a workable international approach to Myanmar [Burma] will remain elusive.”

The ICG also said that the West should emphasize to China the unsustainable nature of its current policies and continue to apply pressure in the Security Council and other fora.

The joke among Burmese dissidents is that Beijing has been left broken-hearted after seeing Washington’s move on Naypyidaw.

China definitely doesn’t want to be left out in the cold, but, simultaneously, it should feel some form of victory as it has for years pushed the US and its allies not to punish or isolate the Burmese regime.

Common ground between the US and China would appear to lie in their approach to the 2010 election in Burma.

“The Burmese election should not be dismissed at this time,” said Clinton in New York. “At the same time, we should continue discussions with the Burmese authorities to emphasize that the international community will only recognize the planned 2010 elections as a positive step to the extent that the Burmese authorities allow full participation by members of Burma’s opposition and ethnic minority groups.”

To sum up, the US and China may both be repositioning and trying out new policies with Burma. And both will know that while they may not have suffered a defeat, they most certainly have had to make concessions.

The intransigent, stubborn, brutal regime in Naypyidaw, however, maintains its grip on power and does not need to make a concession to anyone.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy. org

http://www.irrawadd y.org/opinion_ story.php? art_id=16862

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NUP to contest election with fresh blood

by Ni Moe Myint

Friday, 25 September 2009 19:47

Rangoon (Mizzima) – The National Unity Party (NUP) will contest the 2010 election with new blood rather than elders, party Joint Secretary Khin Maung Gyi said at a press conference this morning.

“It’s time to induct fresh blood into our party. We will contest the election with youths,” Khin Maung Gyi said at the 21st party founding anniversary held at its headquarters on University Avenue.

NUP has shortlisted 500 youths across the country who will contest in about 300 constituencies.

But Khin Maung Gyi did not disclose what role the elder leaders will play.

“The Divisional Party Committees concerned will decide which constituencies and townships they would contest. But we can say we will mainly contest in townships in proper Burma (plain areas) rather than in areas inhabited by ethnic nationalities,” a CEC member and political movement committee secretary Thein Tun said.

Among the 10 registered political parties, like the main opposition NLD, NUP has branch offices across the country, but it has been silenced for the last two decades.

After the 1988 popular uprising, late dictator Ne Win’s ‘Burma Socialist Programme Party’ was transformed to NUP.

Thein Tun claimed that they had three million party sympathisers who would vote in the election for their party which believed in the Burmese way to Socialism.

“The official party membership was 550,000 when political parties were banned from doing party organizational work in 1992 by the government. Now these new forces are being organized as our core force. We can issue party membership cards to these people only when the election law is announced,” Thein Tun said.

When asked to comment on the 2008 constitution,  which is largely controversial among the international community, former Trade Minister Khin Maung Gyi replied, “We have no comment on the constitution as it has been approved by over 90 per cent of ‘YES’ votes. The constitution has an essential and important role in all countries”.

He also said that they would forge an alliance with any party, which wanted it if they had the same policy and attitude as that of the NUP.

The parties formed in the pre-2010 election period are the Democratic Party led by U Thu Wei, Independent Candidates Network, Union Democratic Alliance led by veteran ethnic Shan politician U Shwe Ohn, some Third Force organizations, Kachin State Progressive Party, and ceasefire New Mon Land Party.

The military regime has announced the election would be held in 2010 and under the controversial constitution there would be 498 constituencies in Burma.

But the NLD, which won a landslide victory in the 1990 elections, but were not allowed to form the government and is still banned from undertaking party activities, demanded the regime make amendments in the constitution.

http://www.mizzima. com/news/ inside-burma/ 2820-nup- to-contest- election- with-fresh- blood-.html

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Myanmar: Community awareness key in TB fight

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

Date: 25 Sep 2009

YANGON, 25 September 2009 (IRIN) – From her bed in the Aung San TB Hospital on the outskirts of Yangon, the former Burmese capital, 17-year-old Aye Aye Aung waited to hear if her tuberculosis (TB) had worsened.

Though her symptoms first emerged in late 2007, neither she nor her family knew enough about the infectious respiratory disease to seek help.

Instead, she took a barrage of over-the-counter drugs to control her coughing, and only learned she was infected after finally visiting her local clinic in Sittwe, capital of Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine State.

By that time, it was too late. The clinic was unable to help her, and she was referred to the Aung San TB Hospital, one of only two TB hospitals in the country.

“We should have been better informed about how important early treatment was. That would have helped her,” said one of Aye Aye Aung’s sisters.

Lack of awareness

Like most Burmese, Aye Aye Aung had little or no knowledge about TB and how to treat it, even though the disease is one of Myanmar’s major public health problems.

TB sufferers are also often unaware that free, public treatment is available through the National TB Programme (NTP), and end up spending money they can ill afford at private clinics.

“Community awareness is crucial in fighting TB,” an official from NTP told IRIN. “Not knowing to get early treatment and to take the drugs on a regular basis can worsen the patient’s prognosis, as well as increase the risk of infecting others.”

While government and international health agencies are undertaking education campaigns, public awareness is still low, say health workers.

Agencies lack the funds for widespread information campaigns, while few people have access to the mass media or own televisions in the impoverished nation, which also suffers from a severe electricity shortage.

“A lack of awareness of the disease among the public helps the high prevalence [of TB],” said Ye Myint, a TB consultant with the UN World Health Organization (WHO), adding that public awareness needed to be promoted nationwide.

Controlling TB a challenge

In Myanmar, TB ranks as a priority disease in the national health plan, along with malaria and HIV/AIDS.

The country is among 22 nations in the world with the highest TB burden, and among 27 countries worldwide with the highest burden of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), which is immune to treatment by standard frontline drugs.

According to the WHO’s Health in Myanmar 2009 Report, estimates suggest that 1.5 percent of the population of about 57.5 million become infected with the TB bacilli every year.

Of these infections, about 130,000 people develop tuberculosis, and half of these are smear-positive cases, which means they are the most infectious.

The WHO’s recommended strategy for the detection and cure of TB is directly observed treatment short course (DOTS), whereby the patient is monitored to ensure they take their medication regularly and in the right combination.

While Myanmar achieved near-nationwide DOTS coverage by the end of 2003, problems remain, according to medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières.

“Often there is a lack of financial resources and a shortage of staff in public health facilities, and providing information to patients is often overlooked,” MSF medical supervisor, Myo Set Aung, told IRIN.

Other health workers report that some patients fail to take their drugs on schedule or to complete treatment, often stopping when they feel better. As a result, some TB patients are not able to fight the disease successfully or they spread it to their communities, while others develop MDR-TB, which is more expensive and difficult to treat.

In addition, access to treatment is a challenge, especially in rural areas, where 70 percent of the population live. Travel to health clinics can be difficult and expensive and sometimes takes days.

“If health structures are far away, people may turn to self-medication instead. You can find all sorts of TB drugs and purchase them without prescription, which poses a risk of treatment failure,” said Myo Set Aung.

contributor/ ey/mw A selection of IRIN reports are posted on ReliefWeb. Find more IRIN news and analysis at http://www.irinnews .org http://www.reliefwe b.int/rw/ rwb.nsf/db900SID /ACIO-7W8J3U? OpenDocument