BURMA RELATED NEWS – JULY 13-14, 2010
Jul 14th, 2010
Foreign investment in Myanmar down last year as China’s figure falls, sanctions continue
On Wednesday July 14, 2010, 6:06 am EDT
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Foreign investment in Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest and most authoritarian countries, dropped more than two thirds last fiscal year as Chinese investment tailed off and
economic sanctions on the military-ruled nation continued, according to government figures.
A statistical report from the country’s Ministry of National Planning and Development that was seen Wednesday said foreign investment in the 12 months through March 2010 fell 68 percent to $315 million from $985 million the previous year.
The main reason for the drastic drop was because of China’s unprecedented investment in Myanmar in 2008-2009. It spent $855.9 million in the mining sector, accounting for 87 percent of total foreign investment. China signed an agreement with resource-rich Myanmar for nickel-production in 2008.
Up-to-date information on Myanmar’s economy is difficult to come by and the few official figures that become available are often regarded as unreliable. Though a substantial gas exporter, the revenues barely register in the government’s accounts, suggesting the cash is diverted into projects favored by its ruling generals, according to Burma Economic Watch, a group based at Australia’s Macquarie University that studies Myanmar’s economy.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, saw seven new foreign investments during 12 months, four of which were in its oil and gas sector. These resource extraction investments — three from Malaysia and one from the United Arab Emirates — were worth $278.6 million and accounted for more than 88 percent of the total investment during the fiscal year.
Thailand spent $15.25 million in the hotel and tourism sector, China put $15 million into the mining sector and Hong Kong added $6 million to the manufacturing sector during 2009-2010, the government report said.
The United States and the European Union have imposed economic sanctions against Myanmar to pressure the military government to improve human rights and release detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Sanctions, including banning U.S. companies from investing in Myanmar and banning Myanmar exports to the United States, were first imposed in 1997.
Since Myanmar liberalized its investment code in 1988, it has attracted large investments in hydroelectric power, oil and gas and mining — mainly from neighboring countries such as Thailand.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s exports rose 12 percent to $7.6 billion in year through March from $6.78 billion the previous year, according to the report. Imports dropped 8 percent to $4.18 billion from $4.54 billion.
The government report said that natural gas exports, which accounted for about 38 percent of all export revenue, increased 9 percent to $2.56 billion from $2.35 billion. Myanmar gas exports go to neighboring Thailand.
Myanmar is believed to have a large amount of unmeasured trade, mostly goods smuggled across its land borders, especially with eastern neighbor Thailand and northeastern neighbor China.
Tue Jul 13, 1:57 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States said Monday it was deeply worried Myanmar’s upcoming election would be unfair, dismissing the junta’s move to allow former members of the main opposition party to run.
The military regime in Myanmar, also known as Burma, disbanded democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) but last week gave permission to some of its former members to run under a new name.
“It doesn’t change our concern about the electoral process. We think that this is a flawed electoral process,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
“We respect decisions that former NLD members have made,” he said. “We certainly do not have any expectation that what proceeds in Burma here will be anything that remotely resembles a free, fair or legitimate result.”
The NLD plans to boycott the elections this year, believing they are an attempt for the junta to legitimize its rule.
The polls will be the first since 1990, when the NLD triumphed but was never allowed to take power. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, has spent most of the past two decades under house arrest.
Some activists believe the junta allowed the registration of the new National Democratic Force in part to splinter the opposition, weakening the influence of the NLD and of Suu Kyi.
President Barack Obama’s administration has made dialogue with US adversaries a signature policy and last year opened talks with the junta aimed at repairing relations.
Crowley acknowledged the talks have not borne fruit on democratization but said the United States planned to stick with the policy.
“We have years, if not decades, of experience that tells us that isolation has not worked, either,” he said.
“We will continue to engage them not to reward them, but just simply to make sure that they have clarity that if they envision any different kind of relationship with the United States, that fundamental processes within their own country have to change,” he said.
YANGON, 13 July 2010 (IRIN) – At age 14, Khin Myint* was forced into the life of a child soldier. For months, his mother, Kya Kya Win, had no idea where he was. Eventually, she discovered his whereabouts, and after two years, he escaped but lived in fear of being arrested for desertion. Then in December 2009, a “facilitator” put his mother in touch with the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) which helped get him officially discharged last month.
With government approval, ILO began in 2007 to handle and resolve complaints of underage military recruitment, which is illegal but widespread. The agency has helped discharge more than 100 child soldiers – all boys, and has 70 or so cases pending, with more coming in every day thanks to the work of facilitators. Kya Kya Win has now joined the ranks of volunteer facilitators. She and her son, who is now 16, travelled five hours by bus from their home to Yangon to tell their story to IRIN.
Khin Myint: “It was an afternoon in October 2007. I was resting under a tree after a football game with friends, when an army officer approached me and gave me 1,000 kyat [US$1] as pocket money. He ordered me to join the army, so I followed him.”
Kya Kya Win: “That day, I was waiting for my son to come home, but he never came. I cried and cried. I went to every town in search of my son and even came down to Yangon.
“Two months later, a police officer who works with my nephew offered to help. He was going to an army camp on personal business, and he met my son. I was overwhelmed with joy, and I went around telling everyone that my son had been found.
“But there was no way to get him back, so I just stayed home and worked, waiting. I didn’t know how to get my son back. Then one day he came home with the corporal.”
KM: “I was accompanied by this corporal, who followed me all the time.”
KKW: “He was granted seven days leave, but he had only four days, and the other three days he had to spend with the corporal’s family.”
KM: “I left my home with the corporal. The corporal was drinking a lot of alcohol, and when we stopped in his hometown, I took advantage of him being drunk and went back home by bus [in September 2009].
“I ran away because I didn’t like it. Life in the army is very hard. The officers and older soldiers bullied and beat us. We never received medical treatment. We had to fight battles on the frontlines [against insurgents in Karen State], and when we came back to our unit, we didn’t get to rest or relax, but we had to do chores.
“Some soldiers came looking for me at my Mum’s house, but I escaped and hid in my neighbouring relatives’ houses.”
KKW: “I told them my son never came back home. ‘Last I saw him, he left with the corporal to go back to the regiment.’
“He stayed with me for about three days, and then people from my village told me that they learned from other soldiers that if anyone could find my son, they would be rewarded 5,000 kyats [$5]. I was afraid the village drunkards would report my son to the soldiers in exchange for the 5,000 kyat reward for drinking money, so that night, I took him to a remote place where my daughter was living.
“My sister-in-law knew the parents of the child who had been discharged from the army. The father suggested that I go and see a facilitator in Yangon. This facilitator brought me to the ILO and helped get my son discharged.
“The parents of a child soldier helped me. Now I in return have helped the parents of two other boys. I am determined to help other mothers in the same situation as me. Everyone I meet, I tell them the story of my son, and I tell them all that ILO can help.”
Source: Voice of America (VOA)
Date: 13 Jul 2010
In Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh, and in countries further afield like Australia, authorities are bracing for a wave of refugees from Burma. Thousands are fleeing the military government’s crackdown on dissent ahead of elections.
Human rights groups say pre-election bullying of ethnic groups by Burma’s government has prompted thousands to vote with their feet.
Muslims are among the largest group leaving. However, Temme Lee, refugee coordinator at the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, says members of the Kachin, Karen and Chin ethnic groups also have joined the cross-border march.
She says Burma’s military government is pressuring ethnic communities to conform to its pre-election demands, which includes merging local ethnic militias with the government’s Border Guard Forces, in return for the right to vote.
Among those who fled Burma is Hamid bin Hatin, a 17-year-old. He says was being pressed into the Burmese military to perform menial labor far away from his home in Rakhine on the country’s west coast.
Hatin spent almost $1,000 on agent fees to get to Thailand and then Malaysia. Here, he has spent two months sleeping on a cement floor in a detention camp and has been beaten by fellow inmates.
“I come out of Burma because the military recruits young people to join by force and also since the day we join until we die, we’ll never get a chance to be [in] contact again with our family,” he says, “so that I’m very scared and my parents also are very worried for me and I decided to leave Burma.”
The Burmese are adding to already cramped conditions in the region’s migrant detention camps. That includes Australia’s center at Christmas Island, where Burmese already make-up the third largest group after Afghans and Sri Lankans.
New efforts by Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia to curb people smuggling have resulted in a substantial build-up of refugees in detention camps in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Refugee advocates such as Lee say it is time to reassess how to care for migrants.
“Asylum seekers usually end up in detention centers for month and months,” Lee said. “For us it’s quite irresponsible of the Australian government to only emphasize on the security measures taken by the Malaysian government but does not address at all – seemingly – the protection issues for these asylum seekers and refugees, and that is definitely problematic. ”
No official date has been set for Burma’s election, although many regional political analysts and Burmese expatriates expect it to be in October.
The opposition National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, easily won the last election, in 1990. But the military never allowed it to take power, and has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under arrest for most of time since. The NLD not take part in this election.
Two Robbers Nabbed In Just 10 Minutes
KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 (Bernama) — Two men armed with a parang were arrested merely 10 minutes after they had robbed a Myanmar couple in Selayang Baru early Wednesday.
Gombak police chief ACP Abdul Rahim Abdullah said in the 6.30am incident, the couple, who have acquired permanent resident status, were pushing a cart to sell nasi lemak at a nearby commercial area when the two suspects on motorcycle suddenly stopped them and pointed a parang at them.
“They were forced by the suspects to hand over their cash, amounting to RM320, before the suspects sped off in a dark area,” he told reporters here.
Within seconds, policemen on patrol found the victims and gave chase to the suspects.
In just 10 minutes, both suspects, aged 18 and 22, were nabbed not far from the scene, he said.
Police also seized the victim’s cash and two mobile phones, five SIM cards and a motorcycle from the suspects.
RANONG, July 14 – Myanmar and Thailand have cooperated to set up an identification centre for Myanmar labourers in Ranong, a southern province on Thailand’s west coast.
It is the first such cooperative centre on Thai soil after similar units were previously located in Myanmar.
Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on on Wednesday welcomed Myanmar Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs U Maung Myint and other delegates who travelled from Victoria Point in Myanmar, which Thais call Koh Song, for talks on identification processes of Myanmar labourers, a part of Thailand’s measures to tackle the problem of illegal workers.
The measure will help register illegal labourers and facilitate effective repatriation.
Under the nationality identification processes, the Thai authorities will give two-year licenses for Myanmar labourers to stay in Thailand, awaiting repatriation.
Mr Chalermchai and U Maung Myint visited the centre set up to identify nationality and issues border passes in Ranong. About 400 Myanmar labourers have undergone identification processes.
The centre is expected to register illegal labourers in time. From July10, 2009 to July 10 this year, 122,147 Myanmar labourers or 300-500 persons per day went through identification processes in Tha Chi Lek, Victoria Point (Koh Song) and Myawaddy.
Pattaya Daily News – Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge Closed over River Row
The Thai-Myanmar border crossing at the Tak-Myawaddy checkpoint remains closed on Wednesday, as Myanmar officials stand firm on their protesting of the current Thai riverbank protection scheme.
The project is allegedly negatively affecting the adjacent Myanmar bank.
Tak, the 14th of July 2010: On Monday the 12th of July, Myanmar officials closed the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge and more than 20 ports along the Moei River in protest of a riverbank protection construction being undertaken on the Thai side of the integral waterway.
At present all crossings, including the Friendship Bridge, have been closed to vehicular traffic but are still allowing citizens of both nations to pass freely “on-foot” over the border. Despite allowing foot traffic, many locals fear crossing into the neighbouring country in case the situation worsens and the border crossing is closed completely, leaving them stranded.
According to a report presented to the Thai authorities, Myanmar officials are concerned about the construction of a riverbank protection scheme on the Thai side of the Moei River, which is inherently eroding the banks on the Myanmar side. It is believed the temporary diversion of water away from the construction areas is causing increased erosion on the other side of the river.
In response to the situation, Mae Sot district chief Kittisak Tomornsak explained that the construction project was under contract between the Public Works, Town & Country Planning office and a private contractor. As such, the project had not been passed through the Thai-Myanmar Township Border Committee (TBC).
At present, Mr. Tomornsak is believed to be approaching the higher administrations for intervention in the situation, which could not be intervened upon by other agencies due to the exclusivity of the project.
Attempts to explain the scheme, which will ultimately benefit the Moei River, to the Myanmar authorities are currently underway between the district administrations.
Public health professor Guiyun Yan will lead research in collaboration with Penn State’s Liwang Cui.
By Casey Gomez Published: July 13, 2010 03:15 PM
UC Irvine is set to garner $4.7 million for malaria research in Southeast Asia. The grant is part of a $14.5 million award given to Pennsylvania State University by the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases – or NIAID.
UCI public health professor Guiyun Yan, known for his research in Africa, will lead the research in collaboration with Liwang Cui, a principle investigator with Penn State. The study will reach impoverished areas of China, Myanmar and Thailand.
Yan, who is currently in the remote Yunnan Province selecting study sites, said he is happy to conduct research in his native China, where he grew up and received his college education.
“I hope our findings and new tools from this project will help the current initiative of malaria elimination program in China, and malaria control in Myanmar and Thailand,” he said via e-mail.
Malaria is a potentially deadly disease transmitted by mosquito bites in tropical and subtropical zones. The Penn State-UCI project is one of 10 global malaria research efforts funded by NIAID.
Forty percent of the world’s population lives in at-risk areas, with about 240 million cases resulting in 850,000 deaths annually, according to NIAID. In Southeast Asia alone, there are several increasingly drug-resistant strains of malaria. By working with transients, refugees and Chinese residents near the Myanmar border, researchers hope to fight the disease more effectively.
VOVNews – Businesses eye Myanmar market
Many Vietnamese businesses gathered at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on July 13 to discuss measures to penetrate the Myanmar market.
They discussed opportunities and challenges in accessing the market. In recent years, the economic and trade ties between Vietnam and Myanmar have developed well. Vietnam’s export value to Myanmar reached US$33 million in 2009 and is expected to increase in the following years.
According to economic experts, Myanmar is a market with potential suited to Vietnamese products. It has a high demand for garments, construction materials, food and footwear materials.
To boost trade relations with the country, Vietnamese businesses should conduct market research there and join trade promotion activities held by the two countries. In addition, the Vietnamese Government and ministries should help businesses iron out snags in policies, said participants at the seminar.
Ritu Sarin
Posted: Jul 13, 2010 at 0356 hrs IST
Kolkata The curtains came down on the 12-year old saga of “Operation Leech” in a Kolkata court on Monday with the stage set for imminent release of the 34 Myanmar nationals, who were facing trial on alleged gun-running charges for the past four years.
The “Operation Leech” trial ended on an unprecedented note since it was one of the rare cases in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) agreed to participate in a plea bargain, perhaps, because a detailed judicial order would have exposed the grey areas in the investigations into the mysterious 1998 military intelligence operation in Andaman’s Landfall Islands. The Myanmarese, as per the plea bargain agreement, were given a sentence of imprisonment of one year and three months and fine of Rs 6,000 each. However, as their lawyer Akshay Sharma pointed out that since they have already been in the prison for over five years and in detention for 12 years, they should be immediately freed.
“The order pronounced today shows how much flexibility there is while following the plea bargaining procedure. There was no conviction and neither did the accused plead guilty to any of the charges,” he said.
Human Rights activist Nandita Haksar, who has been campaigning for the early release of the 34 Myanmar nationals, however, said the order on fine pronounced today was unfair. “There is no scope for imposing fine during a plea bargain and this option was never taken up during the arguments,” she said. “We are shocked that so much money has to be raised again in the hope of getting the 34 out of prison.”
While the “Operation Leech” trial may have technically ended, the uncertainty over the future of the 34 accused has not ended yet. During the plea bargain arguments, the defence lawyers had filed appeals requesting that the Myanmarese not be deported back to Burma but instead be allowed to stay back in India as refugees. They had also informed the court that they had obtained “under consideration” certificates from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Haksar says that during their discussions with the Kolkata jail administration and officials in the state government, they received a lukewarm response to the Myanmarese being immediately released in view of the UNHCR certificate. As far as the lawyers and supporters of the alleged gun runners are concerned, the plea bargaining has succeeded at least in that an appeal against an acquittal cannot be filed in the Supreme Court. But the final decision on whether to allow the Myanmarese to live as refugees in Delhi—-like hundreds of others—-or to allow them the liberty to walk free and recount the events of February 8, 1998 may well end up being a political one.
Updated July 13, 2010 12:00 AM
YANGON (Xinhua) – Myanmar and Filipino businessmen are making efforts to enhance business cooperation in various sectors during this year and the two sides are due to meet this week for discussions on the move, sources with the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) said on Monday.
The first meeting between the Bureau of Export Promotion of Trade and Industry of the Philippines and the UMFCCI is scheduled for Thursday at the UMFCCI office, the sources said.
The discussions will mainly cover cooperation in nine sectors – skin care products, industrial products, toothpaste, cosmetics, food and beverages, hair care products, it added.
In December 2008, the Philippines exempted tariff on such imported Myanmar products as basketball, bamboo, cane products and vegetable to boost bilateral trade.
By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR / IPS WRITER – Wednesday, July 14, 2010
BANGKOK—Nearly 50 years after a Burmese military regime crushed what was once a vibrant trade union movement in the Southeast Asian country, hints of a revival are beginning to emerge.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is exploiting a provision in Burma’s 2008 Constitution to pave the way for trade union activity that has been banned by successive juntas to keep a tight lid on any dissent.
“The new constitution says that workers have a right to organize and have workers’ representatives, ” said Steve Marshall, the ILO’s liaison officer in Burma. “We are pushing to use this provision to secure the rights for trade unions.”
But in doing so, the ILO has to grapple with less promising features in the controversial constitution. This charter, approved in a referendum plagued with fraud, contains broad language that supports the use of repressive measures if the government detects threats to the country’s national security and stability.
The ILO’s mission in Burma has been emboldened by what it views as a shift in the regime’s stance towards labor rights activities. This is in light of the Burmese government’s official response to an application made in June by seven labor organizers to register a workers’ union—the Burma National Labour Union.
“They were not arrested,” Marshall told a group of journalists in Bangkok, contrasting this with the standard repressive measures the junta uses to go after any individual deemed a threat to its iron grip on power. “They were asked to be patient and wait till a new trade union law is approved.”
News of the planned trade union law emerged in January, with the junta announcing that the draft law would be approved when the parliament meets following this year’s promised general elections. The ILO has offered to help the regime in this rare move towards organized labor rights activity.
The ILO’s foray into this political minefield comes in the wake of the Geneva-based body’s expansion of its mandate to secure change in Burma. In June, at its mid-year session in the Swiss city, the ILO expanded its role in Burma to “include freedom of association” issues in addition to its challenge of cracking down on forced labor and the use of child soldiers since it established a foothold in the country nearly a decade ago.
The whiff of a possible return of organized labor movements in Burma is also rooted in a rare spate of wildcat strikes that spread across the industrialized zones around Rangoon, the former capital, from November 2009 till March this year.
Such work stoppages, led by the largely women workforce in garment and footwear factories, have not been witnessed in the country in nearly 20 years. The strikers, who held their protests by sitting on the grounds inside their factory compounds, were demanding better basic wages and overtime payments, and a reduction of working hours.
In one South Korean-owned factory, nearly 2,000 workers joined a sudden labor stoppage. But they were not attacked by armed troops.
Besides calling in the police to maintain order in cases like this, the junta opted to pressure the strike-hit companies to solve labor disputes with the strikers’ representatives instead of stepping into the fray. The companies in the industrialized zones are among the estimated 130 garment factories in Burma employing close to 50,000 workers.
But these open acts of dissent reportedly unnerved the junta, currently preparing to hold a general election to gain international legitimacy. This year’s poll comes two decades after Burma’s last election, the results of which the junta refused to recognize.
Yet veteran Burmese trade union activists are not surprised by the wildcat strikes. “We had been expecting these protests because of the rising cost of living and the inability to pay for basic items with small wages,” said Maung Maung, the general secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (FTUB), a coalition of Burmese workers’ groups operating in exile. “One day, about 10,000 workers put down their tools.”
That the strikers were able to get away without an iron-fisted response by the junta may have to do with who some of the striking women were, Maung Maung revealed in a telephone interview from a location outside Thailand. “Some of them were wives, sisters and daughters of the soldiers,” he said.
“The troops have been complaining that their families are starving because of the rising cost of food prices, and that their women are being forced into prostitution. ”
Yet this year’s stirring of dissenting workers and the ILO’s expanded mandate do not mean that the culture of trade unionism is on the way to being restored to what it was in Burma till 1962, when the military, led by Gen Ne Win, staged a coup and proceeded to decimate university student unions and trade unions.
“The legal and political situation needs to be clear and that requires the Burmese government meeting its obligations under ILO Convention 87, which it ratified in 1955,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy director at the Asia division for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based global rights lobby. The ILO’s Convention 87 guarantees freedom of association.
“This year’s wildcat strikes revealed the reality. There was no protection for workers to freely and independently exercise their concerns,” he told IPS. “There were no leaders who emerged among the strikers because they knew their actions were illegal.”
By BA KAUNG – Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Just before Thu Wai, the chairman of Democratic Party (Myanmar), arrived on an organizing trip at Dala Township in Rangoon recently, he found police in civilian clothes waiting for him.
“What is your business here?” Thu Wai asked the police.
“We are here to help you if necessary,” a policeman said. In fact, they were there to intimidate people interested in his party.
“When policemen in civilian clothes showed up, the people were frightened and afraid to approach us,” Thu Wai said. “We heard that some of the locals were also questioned by authorities after we left.”
Thu Wai’s party is one of the pro-democracy political parties contesting the country’s first elections in twenty years. Some parties are now making tours across the country trying to increase their membership and explain their policies.
Party leaders like Thu Wai say that party activities are more difficult to carry out following the latest election rules prohibiting parties from displaying flags or marching and chanting slogans in procession before or after a meeting.
The Peace and Diversity Party in Rangoon and the potentially largest ethnic party, the Shan Nationals Democratic Party (SNDP), also have reported the presence of security personnel in their meetings with local people.
Nay Myo Wai, the leader of Peace and Diversity Party, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday: “I organized a political talk in North Okkalapa Township in Rangoon last month. The police arrived saying they just wished to observe the situation. But seeing them, people did not show up.”
The SNDP, which plans to contest 40 out of 50 constituencies in Shan State and in several constituencies in Burma’s northern Kachin State, made an organizing trip to a number of townships in Shan State last month and faced similar situations.
“As soon as a walkietalkie beeps, the people know that intelligence personnel are among them. So they leave,” said Sai Tun Aye, an SNDP member.
All parties seeking seats in the national parliament are required to have at least 1,000 members within 90 days of being registered to contest in the polls.
Party officials of the Democratic Party( Myanmar) and the Peace and Diversity party said that they have now enough members and will submit their list to the election commission this week.
Nay Myo Wai said he will submit a list with about 1,200 members, perhaps by Thursday.
Election rules require a 500,000 kyat (US $500) fee for each candidate who contests in a constituency.
“Money is the most difficult issue for us now,” Thu Wai said. “My party wants to contest at least 300 seats out of 320 in the National Parliament. But we have no money. I now have only 100 candidates who can pay the fee themselves. Others who wish to be candidates for our party are searching for money on their own.”
“We will contest mainly in lower Burma and only in major cities in ethnic areas,” he said.
With a strong campaign by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) led by regime Prime Minister Thein Sein, some pro-democracy parties are considering an informal electoral alliance in order to better their chances at wining seats.
News reports this week said that the Rangoon-based National Democratic Force, the Democratic Party (Myanmar) and the Union Democratic Party (UDP) would form an alliance.
But, NDF, a splinter party led by former senior members of the disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said there was no specific plan for an alliance.
Khin Maung Swe, the political leader of the NDF which received government approval to participate in the election last Saturday, said, “At the moment, we still have no concrete plan to form an alliance with any party. We have to wait and see until after the candidate registration at the election commission.”
Another NDF official said the party would focus on seats for constituencies in major cities such as Rangoon and Mandalay and also in the capitals of Kachin State, Shan State and Mon State.
Rejecting the idea of an electoral alliance, Nay Myo Wai said: “If the pro-democracy parties share a democratic spirit, then it should be automatically understood that they won’t contest in the same areas and townships.”
“People won’t admit that they don’t have no enough candidates to field due to financial difficulties and a shortage of man power. So are spreading word that they won’t contest in ethnic areas so as not to compete with ethnic parties. It is just to woo the ethnic people.”
Thirty-eight new political parties and five existing parties plan to contest the elections sometime later this year.
The Obama administration on Monday said the Burmese general election process is “flawed” and that the military government has not taken any step towards establishing democracy in the country.
The election date has not been set and the regime has maintained tight restrictions on political dissent in the country and has not provided any working space for political parties to communicate with the public.
“The nearer the election, the more difficulties we have,” Thu Wai said.
By YEE MAY AUNG
Published: 13 July 2010
The man accused of being behind a series of grenade attacks in Rangoon in April this year has been charged with murder.
Phyo Wei Aung’s wife, Htay Htay, said that the 31-year-old was being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison. Nine people died and nearly 200 were injured by the bombings on 15 April, which targeted crowds celebrating the annual water festival.
“He’s being kept alone in the prison and allowed only one hour walking time,” said Htay Htay. “He wants to talk with other people and play chinlone [Burmese ball sport]. His brother is making an official request to allow him the same privileges as other inmates in the prison. This is bad for [Phyo Wei Aung's] mental health.
The engineer suffers from Hepatitis B, his wife said. He is facing four charges, under the Electronics Act, the Explosives Act, the Unlawful Associations Act and the Immigration Act, as well as the murder charge.
The Burmese government claims he is a member of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, which stormed the Burmese embassy in Bangkok in 1999 and took 38 hostages.
Although he appeared healthy, albeit slightly gaunt, when Htay Htay visited earlier this week, she said that prison authorities only began passing on medicine from the family a fortnight ago. He has been held since 23 April.
Phyo Wei Aung made his first appearance at the special courtroom inside Insein prison in 30 June, where the charges were announced. “He is facing four charges…so God help him,” Htay Htay said.
Three separate grenade attacks hit the X20 pavilion in Rangoon on 15 April, as revellers celebrated the Thingyan festival. It was the most deadly attack on Rangoon in half a decade.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 14 July 2010 North Korea’s foreign minister is due to visit Burma in the next 10 days prior to his possible return to a regional security forum in Hanoi on 23 July after a two-year hiatus.
Few details are known about Pak Ui Chun’s scheduled trip to Burma, which comes as party of a three-country swing through Southeast Asia, Kyodo news reported. It follows an investigation by DVB that last month revealed extensive military trade between North Korea and Burma over the past decade, as well as Naypyidaw’s attempts to develop a nuclear weapon.
While Burma has denied the nuclear allegations, it has made little mention of apparently warming relations with Pyongyang. Several sightings of North Korean technicians have been made in Burma since a high-level delegation led by North Korea’s vice foreign minister Park Kil-yon visited the country in June 2001, and DVB has unearthed evidence of major weapons sales to Burma.
A number of suspicious North Korean cargo ships have also docked at ports close to Rangoon; the last reported incident was in April this year, following which North Korean missiles and radar systems were seen being transported from Rangoon to military bases in the north. The Burmese government said however that it was a routine offloading of rice from its ally.
The US and EU has spent the past four years attempting to isolate Pyongyang in retaliation to its first nuclear test in 2006. UN sanctions were intensified in May 2009 after it tested another nuclear bomb, and analysts have warned of a potentially destabilising alliance between North Korea and Burma, two of the world’s so-called ‘rogue states’.
North Korea hasn’t sent a senior-level delegate to the ASEAN Regional Forum for two years, and the 2009 event in Thailand, which came on the heels of its nuclear test, was instead attended by a lower-ranking foreign ministry official. The forum – billed as the principal event for security dialogue in Asia – invites delegations from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as 17 other countries, including China and North Korea. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will also attend.
It is not clear whether Pak Ui Chun has officially accepted the invitation from Vietnam: North Korea is likely nervous of any scrutiny over its ties to Burma, particularly in light of a UN embargo that bans all weapons exports, as well as heated discussion of its alleged torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March, which it has repeatedly denied.
South Korea has been busy trying to convince the forum to censure North Korea for the sinking, while the UN last Friday issued a presidential statement condemning the incident, which killed 46 sailors.
By AYE NAI
Published: 13 July 2010
Two ethnic Shan women who were trafficked and sold as wives to Chinese men before being released in 2008 have now approached an UN agency to demand for help in rescuing the remaining victims.
Six women in total from Burma’s northeastern Shan state were sold for US$1,200 by a ring of Burmese human traffickers in 2008: three reportedly remain with their captors in China, while the third women released has since died of AIDS-related diseases.
The two now back in Burma are filing a report to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which has offices in Rangoon. Previous reports filed to the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation and local police in Shan state were fruitless. Thet Wei, chairman of a Rangoon-township National League for Demcoracy (NLD) committee, is helping the women.
“All six were sold to become wives. [The traffickers] tricked them into going to China by promising jobs that pay 80,000 kyat [US$80] per month. After they arrived in China, they were sold to the Chinese men to become their wives,” he said.
It was only when relatives of three of the women travelled to China to confront the captors that they were released. The relatives reportedly cited the harsh penalties that China carries for human traffickers: in the past year, Beijing has returned more than 300 Burmese trafficking victims.
Julia Marip, of the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT), said that about 60 percent of these were women sold for forced marriages, out of an estimated total of 50,000 women each year bought by Chinese men.
“If you look at the root of the human trafficking problem, you’ll see that [Burma] is in a very bad situation with economic downfall and poverty. These issues must be dealt with first in order to effectively handle the human trafficking problem,” she said.
Burma became one of the signatory countries to the UN Anti-Human Trafficking agreement in early 2004,. The country also has its own anti-human trafficking laws, which at the of June this year saw a racket in Magwe division’s Chauk township being handed 15-years prison sentences for selling a 16-year-old girl to Chinese men.
A US report in 2009 said that trafficking of Burmese women into forced marriages was “a major problem”, although the UN’s resident coordinator in Burma, Bishow Parajuli, said in January this year that the Southeast Asian pariah had made good progress in the past six years.
China and Malaysia remain the top destinations for women sold as wives to men. The US report cited statistics released by the ILO that estimate that at least 12.3 million people worldwide are in forced labour, bonded labour or commercial sexual exploitation.