BURMA RELATED NEWS – JULY 30, 2010
Jul 30th, 2010
Fri Jul 30, 1:43 am ET
YANGON (Reuters) – North Korean diplomats in Myanmar have confiscated hundreds of copies of a locally published biography on the Stalinist state’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, the book’s author said Friday.
Prominent Burmese writer Hein Latt, 62, said two senior embassy officials visited his home and took away the remaining 300 copies of the book, which they said was “false and inaccurate” and could endanger ties between the two countries.
“I handed over these books just because I don’t want to take the trouble to sort out whatever consequences will appear,” Hein Latt told Reuters, adding he had not received any complaints from the authorities in military-ruled Myanmar.
There was no immediate explanation as to why diplomats were acting to confiscate books in a foreign country.
North Korea and Myanmar have developed a close diplomatic relationship, causing concern among Asian and Western countries fearful the two are cooperating on issues related to nuclear weapons technology.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister, Pak Ui-chun, is currently in Myanmar on a four-day visit.
Hein Latt, who has authored about 25 biographies, including books on U.S. President Barack Obama, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, said about 700 copies of his book had been sold since it was launched two months ago.
He said the biography, entitled “Kim Jong-Il: The Dear Leader of North Korea,” had been approved by the Press Scrutiny Department of the Myanmar’s Ministry of Information. It was written in the Burmese language.
The embassy officials said it contained false information because it made references to other texts published in North America about Kim, son of North Korea’s late founder, Kim Il-sung, the country’s “eternal” president.
Fri Jul 30, 7:25 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – The U.S. said it is carefully watching the budding secretive relationship between Myanmar and North Korea for signs of nuclear cooperation, as official talks between the authoritarian regimes entered a second day Friday.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun’s four-day visit to Myanmar is shrouded in secrecy. Myanmar has not officially announced the visit is taking place, and few details have leaked out about the nature of the trip, which is Pak’s first since the two countries resumed diplomatic ties in 2007.
Asked to comment on the visit, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley urged Myanmar to adhere to U.N. sanctions on North Korea that include restrictions on arms transactions.
“North Korea is a serial proliferator. North Korea is engaged in significant illicit activity. Burma, like other countries around the world, has obligations, and we expect Burma to live up to those obligations, ” he told reporters Thursday in Washington. He said the lack of transparency surrounding their ties makes it difficult to assess if North Korea is indulging in nuclear proliferation with Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
“It is something that is of concern to us, given North Korea’s historical record. And it is something that we continue to watch very carefully,” Crowley said.
Pak went Friday to the junta’s headquarters in the administrative capital of Naypyitaw to meet his Myanmar counterpart, Nyan Win, as well as Prime Minister Thein Sein, diplomats and officials said on condition of anonymity to stay below the junta’s radar.
The talks begin the substantive part of Pak’s visit after since sightseeing on Thursday in Yangon, the biggest city, where he visited the famed Shwedagon Pagoda and the National Museum.
It was not known if Pak would meet junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe who returned Thursday from a visit to India.
Myanmar and North Korea are two of Asia’s most authoritarian regimes, and both face sanctions by the West. They have had increasingly close ties in recent years, especially in military affairs, and there are fears Pyongyang is supplying the army-led Southeast Asian regime with nuclear technology.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton raised concerns about Myanmar at a security meeting last week with senior Asian officials.
“We continue to be concerned by the reports that Burma may be seeking assistance from North Korea with regard to a nuclear program,” Clinton said.
Myanmar denies it is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Last month the junta dismissed reports on the subject as coming from “army deserters, defectors and dissidents.”
Myanmar severed diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1983, following a fatal bombing attack during a visit by South Korea’s then-President Chun Doo-hwan that killed 21 people, including four South Korean Cabinet ministers.
Three North Korean commandos involved in the bombing were detained — one blew himself up during his arrest, a second was hanged and a third died in prison in 2008.
BANGKOK, 30 July 2010 (IRIN) – Funding shortages are forcing NGOs to cut operations in the Ayeyarwady Delta, as the Myanmar government takes on oversight for recovery efforts two years after Cyclone Nargis on 1 August.
“The need is enormous,” said Prem Shukla, programme director in Myanmar for Plan International. “Nargis is forgotten though.”
Plan, which started work in Myanmar only after Nargis, will wrap up its work in June 2011, while Save the Children and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are cutting their operations.
Problems of food security, lack of shelter and livelihoods still plague people in the Nargis-affected region, according to the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) report released on 27 July.
The report found that 27 percent of families were food-insecure and livelihoods were still not back to pre-cyclone levels. More than half of those surveyed said housing was their most important concern. The total funding gap for all sectors in the post-Nargis recovery effort is US$510 million, according to the Recovery Coordination Centre, responsible for tracking Nargis aid.
The TCG – comprising the government, Southeast Asian nations and the UN – was formed to build trust between Myanmar and the international aid community weeks after Cyclone Nargis killed 140,000 and destroyed 752,299 homes in May 2008.
It completes its mandate on 31 July, leaving the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement to oversee recovery efforts. After two years of relief work, NGOs expect the transition to go smoothly, but worry that projects may stall without donor support.
“We need additional funding to continue the important recovery work that is still not finished,” said Andrew Kirkwood from Save the Children, which has one of the largest presences in the region. “We have reduced the number of offices in the delta from 14 to eight and the number of our staff in the Delta has reduced from 1,200 to 600 over the last six months.”
IOM closed three of its delta shelter programmes in July and called the situation a “tragedy”.
“Despite the lack of basic shelter for up to one million inhabitants in the delta, urgent and desperate calls for additional funding have gone for the most part unheeded, resulting in the downscaling of many shelter programmes in the delta,” said Nelson Bosch, IOM recovery coordinator in Myanmar.
Bracing for the worst
Potential natural disasters worry groups such as World Vision, which is now shifting to long-term projects. The organization reports a return to normality in areas of the Nargis-affected region where it is working – the towns of Bogale, Pyapon, Hainggyi, Dedaye and Kyaiklatt – but nonetheless, another weather-related crisis could be disastrous.
“This year’s long dry season was accompanied by very high temperatures, which means the humanitarian community may need to be prepared for a possible water and food security crisis in the coming year,” said Win Zin Oo, humanitarian emergency affairs director at World Vision Myanmar.
But despite the shortages, the biggest resource is the people involved. “The water is there, the fish are in the water and the coconut trees are there,” said Shukla, who has overseen Plan’s construction of 43 schools and 31 early childhood development centres in the delta. “But the seeds were gone. First we needed to bridge the gap, and now we need to turn it over to the community.”
By WATCHARAPONG THONGRUNG
Published on July 30, 2010
Thailand and Burma are going to strike another energy deal today for the supply of natural gas from Block M9 and partially from Block M11, while the partnership agreement for the Hatgyi hydropower plant project is expected to be signed next May.
“Despite the [two-week-long] closure of the border checkpoint in Mae Sot, the Thai-Burmese relationship in energy security deepens for economic development in both countries,” Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said yesterday.
He will leave Bangkok for Burma today to preside over the signing ceremony with his counterpart U Lun Thi.
PTT Plc will buy gas from Block M9 in the Zawtika field from the project’s developers, which are its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) and Burma’s national oil company Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
With affirmed gas reserves of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, Block M9 can produce 330 million cubic feet per day. Of the total, 240mcfpd will be exported to Thailand. According to PTT’s statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, most will come from Block M9 and some from Block M11. A part of this is for the Ratchaburi and Wang Noi power plants and the rest for transportation.
This will help substitute 2.4 billion litres of bunker oil per year and help save Bt400 billion in fuel imports throughout the 30-year contract, with gas supplies to start late 2013.
Wannarat said supply to Thailand could be increased. PTTEP has won the exploration and production rights for blocks M3, M4, M7 and M11, and the output could be sold to Thailand at the initial price of US$6-$8 (Bt193-Bt258) per million British Thermal Units (BTUs). Gas from these blocks should help extend Thailand’s gas supply by 10 years, he said.
Natural gas from the Gulf of Thailand, if pumping continues at the current rate without new supply, is estimated to last 23 years.
Energy Permanent Secretary Pornchai Rujiprapa said Thailand also plans to buy power from the 1.2 gigawatt Hatgyi and 7GW Thasang hydropower projects in Burma. The environmental impact assessment for the Thasang project is underway to address the concerns of non-governmental organisations, he said.
The partnership deal for the Hatgyi project could be signed by May 2011, he added.
The M9 development will also extend the Trans-Asean gas pipeline, designed to draw reserves from gas-rich countries, from 2,800 kilometres to 3,020km.
Published on July 30, 2010
Despite controversy over a border closure, the Commerce Ministry will propose to the Cabinet establishment of an economic zone at Mae Sot, Tak province, covering 5,000 rai (800 hectares) to boost border trade between Thailand and Burma.
To ensure efficient operation, the ministry will allow the private sector to manage it with support by the government. The economic zone will be set up along the Moei River, which forms the border between the two countries.
Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot, chairing the ThailandBurma Business Development Committee yesterday, said the ministry would also seek Cabinet approval to set up a committee to oversee and develop the economic zone.
The zone would be managed as a mixed form between a public organisation and an industrial estate. Its facilities would include infrastructure, an inland container depot, a bonded warehouse, singleservice inspection and a customs office.
“The government will support investors by granting privileges such as tax reduction,” Alongkorn said.
The setting up of the economic zone has been accelerated in line with tentative Cabinet approval last October.
If finally approved, concerned government agencies will have to consider in detail regulations affecting the targeted zone, which has been defined as forestry area.
As of yesterday, the Mae Sot border checkpoint was closed because of a dispute between the two countries. Burma had reportedly objected to a Thai construction project on the riverbank.
Published: 30/07/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business
Thailand expects to buy more gas and electricity from Burma in order to secure supplies as domestic resources become depleted, says Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul.
Thailand has been buying gas from Burma since the late 1990s. The Yadana and Yetagun offshore gas fields have an output of 400 and 565 million cubic feet per day (mmscfd) respectively.
In three years Thailand will begin receiving supplies from the new Sawtika Block or M9. PTT Plc, Thailand’s sole natural gas seller, will sign a natural gas purchase contract today with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in Burma’s capital city Naypyidaw.
Under the contract, Thailand will receive gas from M9 at a rate of 240 mmscfd, equal to 2.4 billion litres of oil per day, by the end of 2013. Gas from M9 will mainly be used by the transport sector.
The PTT subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production Plc, the production operator of M9, hopes to gain exploration and production rights for Burma’s other new petroleum blocks such as M3, M4, M7 and M11.
Mr Wannarat said that if the two countries could agree on a plan, Burmese natural gas would serve demand in Thailand over the next 10 years as petroleum resources in the Gulf of Thailand gradually dwindle. Domestic reserves will last only another 23 years, he estimated.
Pornchai Rujiprapha, the permanent secretary of the Energy Ministry, said Thailand also hoped to buy more hydroelectric power from Burma’s Salween River. There is potential to build two hydropower plants on the river: the 1,200-megawatt Hat Gyi Dam and the 7,000-MW Tasang Dam.
In 2006, Sinohydro signed a memorandum of understanding with Burma for the US$1-billion Hat Gyi dam located along the Thai-Burma border. Negotiations over the shareholding structure of the project’s developer are expected to conclude in May next year.
Permsak Shevawattananon, PTT’s senior executive vice-president for natural gas business, said PTT had to seek more gas reserves due to a projected rise in Thai demand to 4,821 mmscfd in 2014 and 5,542 mmscfd in 2020 from 3,900 at present.
“Demand for gas is rising not only in power and industrial sectors but also in transport so we need to find more resources overseas,” said Mr Permsak.
In the future if nuclear- and coal-fired power plants cannot start construction due to community fears over environmental issues, then even more reserves would be needed, he added.
14:47, July 30, 2010
Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group (TISCO) signed an agreement with China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC) on July 26 to jointly develop the Tagaung Taung nickel mining project in Myanmar, according to an announcement on TISCO’s Web site on July 29.
CNMC Nickel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNMC, was previously in charge of developing the Tagaung Taung nickel mine. After signing the agreement, TISCO will inject capital into CNMC Nickel to acquire a certain share in the increased capital stock.
The Tagaung Taung nickel mine marks the largest mining project in which China has ever cooperated with Myanmar. The mine has a reserve of more than 30 million tons of high-grade nickel ore containing some 700,000 tons of nickel.
The project, which will be in operation from 2011 to 2031, will attract an investment totaling 800 million U.S. dollars and produce 85,000 tons of nickel-iron containing 22,000 tons of nickel a year. In addition, the construction of mining, smelting and service facilities is well under way.
Nickel is a scarce strategic resource for almost all countries, and China is no exception. TISCO, the world’s largest stainless steel manufacturer, alone consumes at least 100,000 tons of nickel a year.
“As the most important raw material for stainless steel production, nickel takes up a large portion of production costs,” said Zeng Jiesheng, an analyst at MySteel.com, a steel market research and analysis firm.
TISCO said that the Tagaung Taung nickel mine project will greatly alleviate China’s nickel shortage and reduce domestic stainless steel producers’ risks from fluctuations in nickel prices, and it is actively carrying out mining projects in the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and other countries.
Published July 30, 2010
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The U.S. said it is carefully watching the budding secretive relationship between Myanmar and North Korea for signs of nuclear cooperation, as official talks between the authoritarian regimes entered a second day Friday.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun’s four-day visit to Myanmar is shrouded in secrecy. Myanmar has not officially announced the visit is taking place, and few details have leaked out about the nature of the trip, which is Pak’s first since the two countries resumed diplomatic ties in 2007.
Asked to comment on the visit, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley urged Myanmar to adhere to U.N. sanctions on North Korea that include restrictions on arms transactions.
“North Korea is a serial proliferator. North Korea is engaged in significant illicit activity. Burma, like other countries around the world, has obligations, and we expect Burma to live up to those obligations, ” he told reporters Thursday in Washington. He said the lack of transparency surrounding their ties makes it difficult to assess if North Korea is indulging in nuclear proliferation with Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
“It is something that is of concern to us, given North Korea’s historical record. And it is something that we continue to watch very carefully,” Crowley said.
Pak went Friday to the junta’s headquarters in the administrative capital of Naypyitaw to meet his Myanmar counterpart, Nyan Win, as well as Prime Minister Thein Sein, diplomats and officials said on condition of anonymity to stay below the junta’s radar.
The talks begin the substantive part of Pak’s visit after since sightseeing on Thursday in Yangon, the biggest city, where he visited the famed Shwedagon Pagoda and the National Museum.
It was not known if Pak would meet junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe who returned Thursday from a visit to India.
Myanmar and North Korea are two of Asia’s most authoritarian regimes, and both face sanctions by the West. They have had increasingly close ties in recent years, especially in military affairs, and there are fears Pyongyang is supplying the army-led Southeast Asian regime with nuclear technology.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton raised concerns about Myanmar at a security meeting last week with senior Asian officials.
“We continue to be concerned by the reports that Burma may be seeking assistance from North Korea with regard to a nuclear program,” Clinton said.
Myanmar denies it is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Last month the junta dismissed reports on the subject as coming from “army deserters, defectors and dissidents.”
Myanmar severed diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1983, following a fatal bombing attack during a visit by South Korea’s then-President Chun Doo-hwan that killed 21 people, including four South Korean Cabinet ministers.
Three North Korean commandos involved in the bombing were detained — one blew himself up during his arrest, a second was hanged and a third died in prison in 2008.
Catriona Richards, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 07/30/2010 10:42 AM | World
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan claimed that “ASEAN has regained its centrality” based on the outcomes of the 43rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held in Hanoi last week. “The world has returned to ASEAN,” he said.
“ASEAN and the region, and the global community have returned to the ASEAN stage in order to exchange views, and in order to consult and discuss among themselves on issues important to them, their national agenda, and their global agenda.”
The ASEAN chief said the expressed interest by the US and the Russian Federation to join the East Asia Summit (EAS) had been welcomed by ASEAN foreign ministers at last week’s talks, signalling the growing capacity of the region to attract the attention and involvement of major global powers.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the meetings in Hanoi last week, and the country’s top leaders will attend as observers at the EAS in October this year.
Canada and Turkey also have expressed interest in further engagement with the ASEAN region by acceding to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) in Hanoi last week. The Third Protocol amending the TAC was also brought into force, enabling the accession of non-state regional organizations whose members are sovereign states, paving the way for the accession of the EU to the treaty in 2011.
Permanent Representative of Indonesia to ASEAN Ngurah Swajaya said ASEAN developed closer ties with the EU through its cooperation in drafting the 2008 ASEAN Charter, and has continued to build on this relationship through “sharing experiences and best practices and lessons learned”.
The biannual Asia-Europe Meeting is scheduled to be held in Brussels in October this year, with focus on relations between the EU and ASEAN likely to top the agenda.
The Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea also featured prominently in discussions on regional security last week.
According to Surin Pitsuwan, “The rising tension in the peninsula is of concern to every party … threatening regional stability and by extension global stability”.
He said it was the role of bodies such as ASEAN to provide a forum for discussion regarding tension between states to ensure that open conflict did not threaten the stability and security of the region.
Negotiations regarding the development of a Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) are still under discussion.
Indonesia suddenly finds itself caught in a sphere-of-influence battle between the US and China when the interests of the world’s two largest economies collide in the South China Sea, an area just off Indonesia’s northwest extremity.
On prospect of ASEAN full integration by 2015, Surin reaffirmed the region’s commitment to this goal, praising the economic achievements of the region to date since the introduction of the 2008 Charter despite skepticism from observers.
He pointed to the achievements of six ASEAN nations in bringing tariffs to zero, and the Cambodia laos Myanmar Vietnam (CLMV) countries gradually lowering their tariffs as a sign of progress toward greater regional integration.
The establishment of a US$700 million guarantee fund for ASEAN is also expected to promote economic growth in the region, while taking pressure off institutions such as the IMF in supporting ASEAN nations in times of crisis.
The issue of democracy and human security in Myanmar remains a difficult point on the ASEAN agenda. ASEAN ministers in Hanoi last week expressed their hope for free, fair and inclusive general elections in Myanmar later this year, and encouraged the government of Myanmar to cooperate with ASEAN and the UN in achieving this objective.
However, no plans were announced for direct ASEAN involvement in monitoring the conduct of elections in Myanmar.
Furthermore, ASEAN ministers agreed to end the humanitarian mandate in Myanmar by the end of this month, thereby eliminating any ASEAN presence by the time elections are called.
VOV News – Myanmar receives ASEAN Committee’s Presidency
The Vietnam Embassy in the Republic of Korea officially held a ceremony to hand over the ASEAN Committee’s Presidency in the country to the Myanmar Ambassador on July 29.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Tran Trong Toan, Chairman of the ASEAN Committee said that for the past six months, Vietnam has been actively involved in organising and coordinating other ASEAN partners, including the Republic of Korea and the ASEAN-RoK Centre to boost trade, tourism as well as cultural exchanges.
The Vietnamese Embassy also met with the ASEAN-RoK Centre to discuss the region’s cultural diversity and potential for tourism. They also successfully held the ASEAN-RoK Contemporary Art Exhibition.
The ASEAN Committee in the Republic of Korea has launched the ASEAN Corner project, an ASEAN box on its website and has organised camping tours for schools around the country.
Ambassador Toan then presented the ASEAN flag to Myanmar’s Ambassador, Myo Lwin.
Richard Walden – President, Operation USA
Posted: July 29, 2010 02:02 PM
Having been repeatedly denied a working visa to provide direct aid to Burma (aka Myanmar) as an international relief group (whose name, Operation USA, leaves the tragi-comical government of Burma unenthusiastic about my prowling about their beautiful country looking for health care projects in need of assistance), I travel instead to Mae Sot on the Thailand-Burma border. There, one of the great grassroots success stories, Dr. Cynthia Maung’s Mae Tao Clinic, has for 21 years managed to care for over 250,000 semi-permanent refugees while also providing quiet cross-border assistance to those who need it.
Dr. Cynthia, as she is commonly known, is a major humanitarian figure — there’s usually at least one such person in every country, often a physician, whom those of us who walk the earth consumed with aid and development rely on for guidance,cultural awareness and an honest partner — who has amassed an under-funded empire of basic medical services, emergency care, violence prevention and treatment and a panoply of social services. She attracts hundreds of international volunteers, often college age, who cut their teeth working 24/7 in one of her projects and are changed eternally for having done so.
After years of operating in a quasi-legal vacuum, the Clinic is finally “registered” with the Thai authorities. This status should enable it to receive duty free material aid from groups like Operation USA.
As the years of Burmese Government oppression turn into decades, as Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi stays under house arrest, and typhoon disasters and mismanagement of resources devastate an otherwise rich country, it’s important to remember the Burmese and make a small place for them in our ocean of compassion. Dr. Cynthia’s Mae Tao Clinic is a good place to start.
By BA KAUNG – Friday, July 30, 2010
Seventy-seven appears to have been favored as an auspicious number for his visit to India this week by the superstitious leader of the Burmese junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
Than Shwe is 77 years old. And 77 was the number of members of the entourage which accompanied him to India.
Than Shwe seems desperate to prepare for his future not just by maintaining an iron grip on power but also performing a number of often-extravagant religious rites and rituals, including pilgrimages. But, there is no sign of Than Shwe’s attention to spiritual matters improving Burma’s parlous situation.
On Sunday, Than Shwe spent an hour in meditation at Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. The following day he proceeded for more prayers to Sarnarth, the deer park where Buddha delivered his first sermon.
An Internet depiction of the scene, by a well-known Burmese artist who goes only by the name Mr Creator, shows Than Shwe sitting cross-legged in meditation, with the caption: “Aware, murder! Aware, beatings! Aware deaths!” as though the regime leader were mentally contemplating his misdeeds.
One aspect of the visit to India by Than Shwe, members of his family and his delegation was viewed as the fulfilment of a traditional belief among Buddhists that a pilgrimage to the holiest of Buddhist sites in India will save them from the four evil planes of existence after death. But even some Buddhist monks express their skepticism about this traditional belief, particularly because of their hatred of the Burmese regime.
“You cannot atone the Himalayan scale of your bad actions with tiny good actions,” said a Burmese Buddhist monk living outside Burma, speaking anonymously. “It is just a joke [to believe] that you will be prevented from the consequences of your bad karma by going to Bodh Gaya,”
Than Shwe’s visits to India seemed to have come just before or after major events in his life and in Burmese history. He first visited Bodh Gaya in October 2004 one week after successfully deposing Burma’s powerful military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, who remains under house arrest in Rangoon.
The latest visit also came at an important time for the reclusive leader, even if not for the Burmese people—occurring just ahead of the country’s first election since he came to power in 1992.
For him, all mundane matters seem to be working out according to plan—opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party have been sidelined from the election; a powerful political party led by the regime’s prime minister has been formed, while small, ineffectual parties have been established to create the semblance of an election. It would appear that it only remains now for Than Shwe to further strengthen his spiritual and psychological ground.
While he was making donations to Buddhist monks and temples in India, it was reported from Burma that a group of monks in Rangoon faced forced dislocation from their monasteries. There were also complaints by monks that they were not allowed to leave the country without the permission of the country’s deputy minister for religious affairs.
Than Shwe isn’t alone among brutal rulers who profess to be Buddhist. In Sri Lanka, the country’s human rights record has plummeted under a government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, according to Human Rights Watch.
Both Than Shwe and his Sri Lankan counterpart have performed a wide array of religious observances. Than Shwe last year completed the expensive construction of a replica of Burma’s most famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Naypidaw.
“We should not be surprised by the antics of military dictators,” wrote Prof.
Richard Gombrich, the academic director of the Center for Buddhist Studies at Oxford University, in an email to the The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “Throughout history, the wickedest and most brutal rulers, whatever their nominal religion, have often liked to make a show of their piety,”
Burmese Buddhist monks claim that the Burmese military leader will always remain psychologically traumatized by his deadly crackdown on peacefully protesting monks in 2007 and the following subsequent divisions within the Burma’s Sangha Order—even if he has shown no regret for the crimes his regime has committed against lay people, such as the Daypayin attack on Suu Kyi and her entourage in 2003.
“I don’t see any trace of regret from Snr-Gen Than Shwe yet,” said U Javana, a Burmese monk living in Thailand who fled Burma after spending 16 years in jail for his connection to exiled political groups. “None of his future plans would benefit Burmese people.”
Following the violent suppression of the September 2007 demonstrations, Burma’s Sangha community of monks effectively “excommunicated” Than Shwe and his family by refusing to accept their alms or to perform any religious rites for them.
Not all abbots and monks are following the boycott, however. “The creation of a split within the monks is equal to the murder of Buddha,” said U Javana. “It is one of five heaviest crimes for Buddhists.”
This week The Irrawaddy’s reporter in New Delhi noticed a glass-cased Buddha statue at Bodh Gaya which Than Shwe donated during his visit six years ago. Across Burma, many of the Buddha images Than Shwe and his family donated, including a jade one at the Shwedagon Pagoda, are housed in glass cases, presumably on astrological advice.
Commenting on the displays of religious humility by brutal leaders such as Than Shwe, Prof. Gombrich said: “This is pathetic and contemptible, because their other acts show the world that they have no religion at all. They are simply hypocrites who cannot bear to look into their own hearts.”
By WAI MOE – Friday, July 30, 2010
Top generals from Burma’s junta are reportedly scheduled to meet North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun in Naypyidaw and discuss military and economic relations during Pak’s four-day visit.
Official sources in Naypyidaw said high-ranking Burmese generals are to meet with Pak, boosting military ties between Burma and North Korea during the North Korean delegation’s stay in the capital, although previous reports suggested Pak would meet his counterpart, Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win.
“Ties between the two countries are especially involved with military affairs,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Top generals who are familiar with North Koreans are scheduled to meet the delegation in Naypyidaw today.”
“Gen Shwe Mann, joint-Chief of Staff and Lt-Gen Tin Aye, chief of Military Ordnance, are among Burmese generals who have already met with North Koreans. Gen Shwe Mann’s last trip to North Korea was in April 2009,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Deutsche Presse Agentur, quoting a Naypyidaw source, reported on Friday that Pak was also expected to meet Prime Minister Thein Sein and Information Minister Kyaw Hsan. Kyaw Hsan is also head of the junta’s “Spoke Authoritative Team.”
According to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency, before Pak came to Burma, he met Laotian President Choummaly Saynasone, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Laos People’s Revolutionary Party, and Laos Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh when he visited Laos earlier in his trip.
“The president [of Laos] said he was pleased with the great achievements made by the Korean people in defending the country and building socialism under the wise leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Il,” North Korean media reported.
Before traveling to Naypyidaw, Pak toured around Rangoon, visiting the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. When Pak was at Shwedagon, like other foreign delegations, he paid respect to the Jade Buddha statue donated by junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
The relations between Naypyidaw and Pyongyang are controversial. The US and other Asia-Pacific countries have expressed concern that North Korean may help Burma to become the first nuclear-armed nation in the Southeast Asia, saying the military ties with North Korea are breaking UN Security Council Resolution 1874.
Apart from importing nuclear technology, Burma reportedly gets strategic arms—including anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air- missiles, surface-to-surface- missile, 240mm multiple launch rocket systems, military advice and underground warfare facilities from their ally, according to security analysts.
Burma is thought to barter primary products like rice, beans and possibly uranium for armaments from North Korea.
“It’s possible that Burma would additionally like to develop nuclear assets to gain more leverage within Asean and strengthen it’s sabre-rattling as North Korea is so regularly able to do,” said Michael Charney of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies in an email to The Irrawaddy on Friday.
Charney said North Korea was able to do this without fear of consequences because of China’s protection.
Given the Balkan-like nature of Burma’s domestic situation and its strategic position between India and China, a nuclear Burma will probably present the single greatest threat to regional security and will in the long run be very bad for Asean and, ironically, China as well, said Charney.
Charney blamed the emergence of this situation on China’s approach to both Burma and North Korea.
Meanwhile, as Pak was starting his visit to Burma on Thursday, China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue was in Pyongyang to meet with Kim Yong Il, director of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
During Hu’s trip, China signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement with North Korea, North Korean media reported.
Friday, 30 July 2010 19:11 Kyaw Mya
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma Campaign UK has called on British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise Burmese issues in meetings with their Indian counterparts during their three-day visit to India, according to the rights group.
Among those travelling with Cameron are finance minister George Osborne, Business Secretary Vince Cable and senior British business leaders, who arrived India on Tuesday as the Burmese junta’s entourage of more than 80 ministers and their wives led by Senior General Than Swe concluded its five-day tour of the country.
Zoya Phan, international co-ordinator at Burma Campaign UK told Mizzima: “We have asked the British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise Burma issues with the Indian Government to urge … [it] to promote human rights and democracy in Burma.”
She added “We do not know exactly what they will be talking about but I hope that Cameron prioritises the Burma situation with the world’s largest democracy, India”
Burma Campaign UK director Mark Farmaner said, “We understand that William Hague and David Cameron will both be raising the situation in Burma in meetings with the Indian government, which is very welcome.”
“The British Government is very clear that they do not agree with the approach that India is taking and that [London ] … sees that there should be increased pressure on the dictatorship and that they don’t see the Indian approach as being one that is effective in bringing about any real change in Burma,” he said.
Cameron’s coalition entourage flew in to Bangalore in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, where many leading British firms have offices. They visited India’s state –run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), the Infosys campus at Electronic City, an Indian Ministry of Defence manufacturing unit and met the governor of Karnataka before flying to New Delhi yesterday.
Barclays, Vodafone, SAB Miller and English Premier League bosses are among the business delegation while Cambridge and other academics and sporting figures, including 2012 Olympics chairman Lord Coe, also made the trip.
While in Bangalore, the youngest of British prime ministers on Wednesday presided over the signing of a contract worth a total of £700 million (US$1.09 billion) between BAE Systems – the biggest defence contractor in Europe – and Rolls Royce, and HAL, to build 57 BAE Hawk jet trainers under licence.
The Cameron government’s delegation met Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh yesterday and held separate talks with President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari and External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna.
Meanwhile, the entourage of Burmese head of state Than Shwe, the leader of the State Peace and Development Council of Burma, the junta’s name for itself, was yesterday winding down a tour that had seen India open its arms with the signing of a range of bilateral political, economic, security and cultural pacts on Tuesday.
According to the Burma Campaign’s Mark Farmaner, India was concerned about the growing clout its rival China was wielding in Burma, citing the warm welcome for Than Shwe. The junta’s entourage began its visit to the country on Sunday by offering prayers that day and Monday at the Mahabodhi temple, scene of the Buddha’s enlightenment, in Bodhgaya in the eastern state of Bihar.
Farmaner told Mizzima: “India is trying to get closer to the dictatorship mainly because it wants to counter Chinese influence in Burma … India’s policies towards Burma are a disgrace and without any principle and brings shame to the country, and it will damage India’s reputation worldwide,” he added.
“India main concern is about Chinese influence in Burma, but India is making a mistake because they will never be able to compete with China, diplomatically and economically,” he said.
Farmaner further asserted that India in the long term was backing the wrong horse.
“The strategy it has of moving closer to the regime will fail and so it would be more sensible for India to support Burma’s democracy movement because the generals will not be in charge forever. And India is making a mistake by being such a strong supporter of the dictatorship in Burma.”
“I think they will look back on it [signing of pacts with the junta on Tuesday] as a day of shame in their history,” Farmaner said.
Than Shwe and Singh signed deals for co-operation between their nations’ security forces to tackle terrorism and strengthen teamwork along India’s northeastern border with Burma. They also settled on a road map for closer economic engagement.
The neighbours share a 1,020-mile (1,640-kilometre) unfenced frontier, which allows militants from northeast India to use the adjoining country as a springboard for hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on Indian soldiers.
The Indian foreign ministry outlined the deals in a statement on Tuesday. They are a “treaty on mutual assistance in criminal matters, a memorandum of understanding regarding Indian grant assistance for implementation of small development projects, an agreement for co-operation in the fields of science and technology, a memorandum of understanding on information co-operation and a memorandum of understanding for the conservation and restoration of the Ananda Temple in Bagan [Pagan]”.
India has also offered US$60 million in finance for a revamp of the 140 mile Rhi-Tiddim road connecting Mizoram State and Burma, considered a lifeline for boosting trade and commerce. It has also announced a grant of US$10 million for Burma to buy agricultural machinery from India and US$6 million to upgrade the microwave link between Moreh in Manipur State and Mandalay.
In response to India’s apparent disregard for the brutality the Burmese regime represents, former leftist Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly, expressed anger at New Delhi’s entertainment of Than Shwe. She had this week protested against his visit with Burmese refugees in the capital.
“I feel very angry with what India is doing; India is showing itself not to be big but to be even smaller than a dirty military dictatorship,” she said.
“Today everybody wants trade and selfishness is convenient. Also the big arms dealers likes to give guns to the [Burmese] military; this is a shame particularly for a country that calls Mahatma Gandhi the father of the nation,” she continued.
The critics of India’s acquiescence to the Burmese regime say New Delhi has forgotten its role as the world’s largest democracy and its historic support for Burmese pro-democracy forces.
The junta’s laws governing elections scheduled to take place later this year in Burma have effectively banned Novel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was also honoured by India with its equivalent humanitarian prize, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award in 1993. Her National League for Democracy party had its landslide victory in Burmese elections in 1990 unceremoniously rejected by the ruling military junta.
Britain meanwhile is one of the strongest supporters of Burmese political reform after the United States and has sanctions against the military regime and a global arms embargo. It is also a strong proponent for a United Nations commission of inquiry on the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese dictatorship.
Friday, 30 July 2010 12:18 Khaing Suu
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Party leader, poet and author, Wei Mhu Thwin, says the problem with the upcoming elections was not that 25 per cent of parliamentary seats were reserved for military personnel, but that no one knew when they would quit parliament.
Myanmar Democracy Congress (MDC) general secretary Wei Mhu Thwin, aka Kaung Htet, added the main problem for his own party was to collect funds to meet requirements set out under restrictive electoral laws. “The functioning status of the electoral laws is weak”, he said.
MDC, which comprises mainly young people, was on July 5 officially allowed to form as a political party by the junta’s electoral watchdog, the Union Election Commission (UEC), which gave it registration number 34. Although the party intends to contest seats of the People’s and National parliaments in all constituencies, it was still trying to recruit the number of candidates required by the junta’s electoral laws.
The party headquarters is at Shwegondine Tower, in Bahan Township, Rangoon Division, and the party was still preparing to open branch offices across the country, he said.
Wei Mhu Thwin said Burmese people wanted a government elected by the people, but that obstacles to allaying their fears over the process persisted.
He was opposed to some clauses in the 2008 constitution, but hoped that they could be modified in parliament. “Let me give you an example of what I mean. We will try to enact a law that a citizen must not work in more than one ministry”, he said.
The general secretary then revealed some policy intentions. “If the party [MDC] wins in the forthcoming election and can form a government, it will try to be a trustworthy government.”
Other MDC leaders are chairman Kaung Myint Htut (a former political prisoner jailed in 1988), vice-chairman Taung Aye (a Chin politician and businessman) , Kyaw Kyaw Min, and former politburo member Kaung Myat Thu (who lives in Britain and writes all the party’s statements).
Biographical notes on Wei Mhu Thwin
Kaung Htet, aka Wei Mhu Thwin (pen name), was born on February 13, 1978 in Pyay in Pegu (Bago) Division. His parents are Maung Maung Ni and Kay Thi Aung, who run a warehouse and a cooking-oil mill. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Dagon University in Rangoon.
By NANG KHAM KAEW
Published: 30 July 2010
A Shan party registered for the upcoming elections in Burma has been blocked from campaigning for votes in the country’s eastern Karenni state.
The chairman of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), Sai Ai Pao, said that Central Executive Committee members on 28 July were denied entry to Loikaw, capital of Karenni state and near the border with Shan state. The group was blocked by the regional Election Commission (EC) secretary, he added.
“We actually had informed the EC about our campaign before we went there,” said Sai Ai Pao. The group, which is looking to stand in three towns in Karenni state, 40 in Shan state and six in Kachin state, was forced to return to Shan state, with no reason apparently given.
Another Shan-based party, the Wa National Unity Party, is meanwhile looking to compete in four townships in Shan state, populated largely by ethnic Wa whose roots lie in China.
“For now, we are only campaigning in areas reachable by roads,” said Lon Pao, chairman of the WNUP. “We will stand for the elections in Hopang, Tangyan, Lashio and Kengtung. The campaigning so far is going well.”
Parties competing in the elections in Shan state include the government-proxy parties the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National Unity Party, as well as the opposition National
Democratic Force (NDF) and the Union Democracy Party (UDP).
Thirty-eight parties have so far been permitted to run in Burma’s first elections in 20 years, although a date is yet to be set.
By NAY HTOO
Published: 30 July 2010
A number of political parties running in Burma’s elections this year have said that extended US sanctions will do little to affect the polls.
Observers, including US and EU governments, have decried the country’s first elections in two decades as a sham aimed at cementing military rule in Burma. Some 38 parties have registered for the polls, but only one can seriously be considered part of the opposition, following the dissolution of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Khin Maung Swe, spokesperson for the National Democratic Force (NDF), which was formed from the ashes of the NLD, said that the sanctions will not force a change of the repressive laws that govern how parties campaign, and which can participate in the elections.
“I think it would be more beneficial for Burma if the international community pushes for a revision of the unfair laws, help to find a solution to make the elections free for everyone and [push for] the release of all political prisoners and allow them to join the elections,” he said.
The ban on imports of Burmese produce to the US was last week extended for another year after the Senate voted 99 to 1 in favour. Washington’s sanctions regime on Burma harks back to 2003 when former president George Bush enacted the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act.
Among the signatories was Jim Webb, the Virginia senator who has made two trips to Burma in the past year where he met with opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi. He however has said in the past that US sanctions on Burma were ineffective, a stance that drew the ire of members of Suu Kyi’s party.
The election laws announced in March appear to be one of several signs that the Burmese junta has shirked US pressure to tighten its grip on power. Aye Lwin, leader of the Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (UMFNP), who took a leading role in the anti-sanctions campaign in Burma, echoed the sentiment expressed by Khin Maung Swe.
“We see that even a well-informed nation like the US is misled on Burma. If the US wants free and fair and clean elections in Burma, then they need to welcome and give moral support on the individuals and groups striving [for free and fair elections].”
No date has been set for the elections, although rumours have surfaced that they will be held in October. The only information from the government is that they will take place in the second half of this year. Candidates have complained that little time is being given for them to prepare, with constituencies yet to be announced.
“The parties should be given enough time for their structure formation, member recruitment and explaining their policies to the people. The US should emphasise issues like this and stress this to the Burmese government,” Aye Lwin said.