BURMA RELATED NEWS – AUGUST 10, 2010
Aug 10th, 2010
21 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – A pro-democracy party in Myanmar backed by three daughters of former top ministers said Tuesday it had complained to the election authorities about intimidation of its members by security personnel.
Democratic Party chairman Thu Wai said special branch police were visiting members’ homes and asking them for their curriculum vitaes and two photos each.
“We have sent a letter of complaint to the Union Election Commission in Naypyidaw to solve this issue. It’s like threatening people to get scared. Some party members might resign from the party as they’re worried,” Thu Wai said.
The party said it had sent a list of 1,000 members to the commission, which forwarded the names to intelligence officials.
“We can assume they do not want our party to get bigger,” said 78-year-old Thu Wai, adding that his party now has more than 3,000 members.
Among them are Mya Than Than Nu and Nay Yee Ba Swe, both daughters of former prime ministers of Myanmar — formerly known as Burma — and Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, the daughter of a late deputy premier.
The party is one of about 40 that have so far been allowed to register for the elections, which Western countries fear are a sham aimed at shoring up the junta’s half-century grip on power.
The military leaders have not yet announced a date for the polls, which are scheduled for some time later this year.
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won the last polls in 1990 by a landslide but the military never allowed the party to take power.
Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 20 years in jail or under house arrest and is barred from standing in the next polls because she is a serving prisoner.
The NLD opted to boycott the vote because of rules laid down by the junta that would have effectively forced it to expel Suu Kyi and other members in prison before it could participate.
Thu Wai said ordinary voters whom his party had visited said they were ready to support pro-democracy candidates and did not want to back pro-government parties such as the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
“Wherever we went, people said openly they were waiting for us. They said they would like to vote for the party which works fairly,” Thu Wai said.
Tue Aug 10, 3:35 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s ruling junta threw a lavish welcome ceremony for a rare white elephant, a traditional symbol of power and prosperity, which was transported from the jungle to the country’s remote capital, state media reported Tuesday.
The 38-year-old female elephant was recently captured in the jungles of northwestern Myanmar and transported Monday by boat and truck to Naypyitaw, where it was given the name Bhaddavati, or “One Who is Endowed With Goodness,” in a formal naming ceremony, the Myanmar Ahlin newspaper reported.
Top military leaders greeted the 7-foot, 4-inch (2.2-meter) elephant when it arrived in Naypyitaw and sprinkled the beast with scented water during a ceremony at the Uppatasanti Pagoda, a replica of the famed Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the former capital and biggest city in Myanmar.
The white elephant marched in a parade of other elephants and circled the pagoda, where religious sermons were delivered for its safety and well-being, the newspaper said. The white elephant will be housed in an enclosure at the foot of the temple.
White elephants, actually albinos, have for centuries been revered in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and other Asian nations. They were normally kept and pampered by monarchs and considered a symbol of royal power and prosperity.
The elephants are not necessarily white. They can look similar to other elephants except for certain features such as fair eyelashes and toenails, light-colored hair or a reddish hue to the skin.
Bhaddavati is the fourth white elephant captured and held in captivity in Myanmar in recent years. The other three are kept at a special park in Yangon, where they live in an enclosure with spiraled pavilions, a manmade waterfall, ponds and trees.
Asia Times Online – Myanmar sends UN a clear message
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK – When a United Nations human-rights investigator for Myanmar called for an international inquiry to look into possible war crimes by the country’s military regime, he added significant weight to similar calls that had been made in other quarters.
But that call in March by Tomas Ojea Quintana, as part of a scathing 30-page report delivered to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, has come back to haunt the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar. Quintana has been denied a visa by the junta to return to the Southeast Asian nation for his fourth visit, according to diplomatic and UN sources.
Pro-democracy activists in exile are hardly surprised by the treatment given to the Argentine lawyer, who is currently on a visit to Thailand and Indonesia ahead of preparing another report on Myanmar to be presented to the UN General Assembly in October.
His predecessor, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, was also shut out from the country by the junta following critical reports tabled before the world body.
“It was very clear that Quintana touched on a very sensitive issue for the Burmese [Myanmar] regime when he called for the setting up of an international committee to look into war crimes,” said Khin Ohmar, coordinator of the Burma Partnership, an Asia-Pacific network of civil society groups championing democracy and human rights in Myanmar. “The regime cannot tolerate such criticism.”
In fact, Quintana broke new diplomatic ground with the strong words he said in March, added the political exile. “It was the first time that a crime[s] against humanity inquiry was called for by a UN human-rights rapporteur.”
Despite being denied a visa, “he [Quintana] is still committed to pushing the inquiry forward”, revealed David Scott Matheison, Myanmar consultant for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based global rights watchdog. “He is not giving up; he wants to go back inside and engage with as many actors.”
The UN established a mandate to look into human-rights violations in Myanmar in 1992. That year also saw the start of resolutions critical of the junta being tabled during the annual sessions of the UN General Assembly.
But it was only in 2002 that the reports on war crimes allegations leveled at the junta began to emerge, confirming a worsening climate of oppression and abuse in a country that already had a growing list of gross human-rights violations. The most damning report was “License to Rape”, published by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), a group from Myanmar’s Shan ethnic minority.
This disturbing report documented the military’s rape of Shan women as part of their war effort against Shan ethnic rebels.
Following that 2002 report, the UN General Assembly approved for the first time a resolution calling for an independent inquiry to investigate cases of rape and other crimes committed by the Myanmar regime in the border areas that are home to ethnic minorities where separatist battles were being waged.
Yet the disclosures in the SWAN report changed little, as reflected in other reports that followed. Some were published by women belonging to the Karen minority living along Myanmar’s eastern borders, where a six-decade separatist conflict continues.
The Karen and Shan victims are among those in the north and eastern corner of Myanmar, close to the country’s borders with Thailand and China, where some 500,000 internally displaced people live in dire conditions after fleeing conflict situations in their villages.
The impacts of these conflicts on the ethnic civilian population were exposed in a 2009 report authored by five international jurists. Over 3,000 ethnic nationality villages have been burnt to the ground by the military regime, revealed the report produced by the International Human Rights Clinic at the law school of the US-based Harvard University. “This is comparable to the number of villages estimated to have been destroyed or damaged in Darfur [Sudan].”
“The world cannot wait while the military regime continues its atrocities against the people of Burma [Myanmar],” added the jurists from Britain, Mongolia, South Africa, the United States and Venezuela in the report “Crimes in Burma”. “We call on the UN Security Council urgently to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate and report on crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.”
Quintana echoed similar sentiments in his March report: “The UN institutions may consider the possibility to establish a commission of inquiry with a specific fact-finding mandate to address the question of international crimes.”
Quintana’s report, which followed his third trip to Myanmar in February following his appointment in May 2008, highlighted a litany of violations that included deaths and torture of detainees, forced labor, arrest of dissidents and the lack of freedom of expression and assembly.
“This report was the highest from a UN official and confirmed what ethnic communities living in the war zones have been saying during the past years,” said Charm Tong, a ranking member of SWAN. “The victims are still under attack and have to flee the Burmese army.”
For this suffering to end, Quintana’s concerns and his call for a war crimes inquiry should “break the silence at the UN Security Council”, the Shan activist told Inter Press Service. “We want Burma to be discussed at the Security Council.”
AFP – August 11, 2010 – 2:19AM
A pro-democracy party in Burma backed by three daughters of former top ministers said on Tuesday it had complained to the election authorities about intimidation of its members by security personnel.
Democratic Party chairman Thu Wai said special branch police were visiting members’ homes and asking them for their curriculum vitaes and two photos each.
“We have sent a letter of complaint to the Union Election Commission in Naypyidaw to solve this issue. It’s like threatening people to get scared. Some party members might resign from the party as they’re worried,” Thu Wai said.
The party said it had sent a list of 1,000 members to the commission, which forwarded the names to intelligence officials.
“We can assume they do not want our party to get bigger,” said 78-year-old Thu Wai, adding that his party now has more than 3,000 members.
Among them are Mya Than Than Nu and Nay Yee Ba Swe, both daughters of former prime ministers of Burma – also known as Myanmar – and Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, the daughter of a late deputy premier.
The party is one of about 40 that have so far been allowed to register for the elections, which Western countries fear are a sham aimed at shoring up the junta’s half-century grip on power.
The military leaders have not yet announced a date for the polls, which are scheduled for some time later this year.
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won the last polls in 1990 by a landslide but the military never allowed the party to take power.
Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 20 years in jail or under house arrest and is barred from standing in the next polls because she is a serving prisoner.
The NLD opted to boycott the vote because of rules laid down by the junta that would have effectively forced it to expel Suu Kyi and other members in prison before it could participate.
Thu Wai said ordinary voters whom his party had visited said they were ready to support pro-democracy candidates and did not want to back pro-government parties such as the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
“Wherever we went, people said openly they were waiting for us. They said they would like to vote for the party which works fairly,” Thu Wai said.
The Star Online – U.N. chief irked by Myanmar leaders ahead of vote
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed frustration with Myanmar’s military junta, saying they have ignored his efforts to engage the Southeast Asian nation ahead of this year’s election.
Myanmar’s now-defunct National League for Democracy party (NLD), led by long-detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said in March that it would boycott the polls over “unfair and unjust” election laws and imprisonment of many of its members in the country formerly known as Burma.
“In Myanmar, my special adviser (Vijay Nambiar) and I are deploying every effort to continue to engage with the authorities, ” Ban told reporters during a monthly news conference.
He said that his concerns include the elections planned for this year, which opposition leaders, human rights groups and Myanmar’s neighbors are worried will be rigged.
“It is a source of frustration … that Myanmar has been unresponsive so far to these efforts” to engage it, Ban said. “A lack of cooperation at this critical moment represents nothing less than a lost opportunity for Myanmar.”
Last week the chairman of the pro-democracy Union Democracy Party (UDP), Phyo Min Thein, resigned over his concerns about this year’s long-awaited elections.
He said the election laws were too strict and had been drafted in a way that ensured a party backed by the junta would win most house seats and prolong its grip on power.
Myanmar has not yet set a date for its first multi-party election in two decades, but says the polls will take place this year and will be free, fair and inclusive.
Suu Kyi’s NLD won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but the junta refused to hand over power.
Critics have already derided this year’s election as a sham to entrench nearly five decades of military rule and say a constitution passed in 2008 reserves only a limited role for politicians who are not allied with the regime.
Published Date: 10 August 2010
Amnesty International today asked comedians and audiences at the Edinburgh Festival to get behind a new campaign for a comedian jailed for 35 years for criticising the government.
Zarganar, 49, one of Burma’s biggest comedians, has been held in Myitkyina Prison, in Burma’s northern Kachin State, since November 2008, after he criticised the Burmese government’s response to Cyclone Nargis.
Amnesty is asking people to go to www.amnesty. org.uk/zarganar to download a letter to send to the Burmese authorities demanding Zarganar’s immediate and unconditional release.
Comedian Josie Long, who is currently performing at the Fringe, said: “What’s really staggering about Zarganar’s story is that the government ultimately locked him up for doing charity work.”
Amnesty campaigners will be out on the streets across Edinburgh generating more public support for the campaign. They will be taking photos of festival-goers holding up their hand, with the name of Zarganar or one of many other Burmese prisoners written on their palm. All the photos will be taken to Brussels for October’s Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
Bangkok Post – 100 ATMs to offer services in Burmese
Published: 10/08/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Kasikornbank has added a Burmese language option to about 100 ATMs in different provinces to serve the growing number of Burmese living and working in Thailand.
Eighty percent of the ATMs with the Burmese language are in Samut Sakhon’s Muang district where there is a large Burmese population involved in the fishing industry. The rest are in Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Ranong and Trat, KBank senior vice-president Wirawat Panthawangkun said yesterday.
Business operators who hire Burmese staff asked for the language option to help foreign workers use ATMs.
KBank first introduced Burmese language options to ATMs in Samut Sakhon in February.
“[Burmese customer] financial transactions have increased by about 20% per ATM after [the introduction] mainly [involving] money deposits, withdrawals and cash transfers,” Mr Wirawat said.
“The bank can target the segment directly with marketing campaigns, as well.” KBank plans to provide services in other neighbouring languages, especially Cambodian and Lao in select areas, according to customer demand.
The bank would maintain its main focus on its core customer base of Thai people before making any decisions, he said. Too many languages on ATM screens could cause confusion or lead to dissatisfaction among Thai customers.
The bank has no plans to expand its loan services to Burmese borrowers because of the low demand and risk factor, Mr Wirawat said.
KBank offers four standard languages at about 7,500 ATMs nationwide: Thai, English, Chinese and Japanese.
Concrete wall saga shows the importance of transparency
Published: 7/08/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The recent border conflict between Thailand and Burma over the construction of a concrete wall along the Moei River has given Thai authorities a good lesson on the need to be transparent with their Burmese counterparts.
Upon finding out the potential consequences of the wall on people living along the river, the Burmese government ordered the closure of the checkpoint at Myawwaddy-Mae Sot on July 16.
The Thai Public Works Department started the embankments project without informing Burmese and local Thai officials.
The Burmese side says the embankments will change the dynamics of the water flow and could result in erosion on the other side of the river.
This situation is not new. Similar incidents have taken place many times over the past 20 years, with both Thai and Burmese agencies to blame.
The result was often exchanges of artillery fire over the Moei River and the checkpoint’s closure which cost traders along the border millions of baht.
Thai-Burmese officials met last week but initially could not come to a conclusion about when the two countries should inform each other when one side launches a development project.
Finally, to prevent a similar situation happening again in the future, officials from the Foreign Ministry, who went there to help negotiate, proposed to set up a technical committee to oversee all construction projects planned along the Moei River, an international river which divides Thailand and Burma.
Burmese officials proposed its Irrigation Department chief head the committee, but Thai officials wanted the Legal and Treaties Affairs boss to head the Thai side, and suggested his Burmese counterpart do the same.
“It is possible the Irrigation Department will see the problems from one side as the Foreign Ministry will also look into legal issues to make sure the decisions do not affect the international relationship as well,” said a source at the meeting.
As the meeting proceeded well, the proposal was later accepted and both sides are in the process of identifying names on the committee before forwarding them for cabinet approval, he said. Further meetings will also be held.
“The Public Works Department has been ordered to stop working and is waiting for the technical committee to be set up to look into the case again,” said the same source.
The meeting also agreed to set up a monitoring system by which local people will help inspect construction along the river while authorities will monitor the river path via satellite to see if it has changed.
If the path changes, the committee will be informed immediately, thereby helping minimise the costs of resolving the problem.
“This system will be applied throughout the Moei River,” said the source.
By Pamela Roth, Regina Leader-Post August 9, 2010
REGINA — The death of a family believed to be refugees from Myanmar comes as a “huge blow” to Regina’s tight-knit Myanmarese community.
Rev. Mark McKim of the First Baptist Church said the family, which was found dead in its north Regina townhouse on Friday, were Karen refugees from Myanmar and arrived in Regina about three years ago in search of a better life.
On Sunday, McKim spoke at a church service specifically for Karen refugees — a minority ethnic group from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), a southeast Asian country dominated by a military rule since 1962.
McKim said Regina’s community of refugees and immigrants from Myanmar is shaken after learning about the deaths, so he reassured members that a tragedy such as this isn’t something that happens often in Canada.
Police are treating the case as a triple homicide. The final confirmation about the cause or manner of death will not be made until autopsies are performed.
“There is some sense of fear and confusion. The community is very tight-knit so this comes as a huge blow to them,” said McKim, who noted the family wasn’t well-known in the church community.
“They come from a country where they have experienced a great deal of violence and they are very reserved. They become enormously grateful for coming to a place where you don’t have that kind of experience of constant fear, so I’m sure this brings back very painful memories and a certain degree of confusion.”
Police have not yet identified the victims, but neighbours say a married couple lived in the townhouse with their three-year-old son.
The man’s employer, Crown Shred & Recycling, confirmed the man’s name was Gray Ney.
According to Canadian Citizenship and Immigration, the Karen fled their country to Thailand in 1995 following a major offensive by the Myanmarese army against the Karen National Union.
Since 2006, Canada has accepted nearly 3,000 Karen refugees for settlement, with more than 100 of those coming to Regina.
Calcutta News.Net
Tuesday 10th August, 2010 (IANS)
Arunachal Pradesh has asked the central government to fence the India-Myanmar border to check the movement of separatist rebels from India’s northeast who have set up base in the dense jungles of the state.
‘Different militant groups from northeast India are using the Arunachal Pradesh jungles as their corridor to go to Myanmar and China and vice versa,’ Arunachal Home Minister Tako Dabi told IANS here.
‘It is extremely difficult to deal with the trans-border movement of the separatist outfits of other northeastern states as the state has a vast geographical area (83,743 sq km area),’ he said.
‘The state has a long international border with Bhutan in the west (160 km), China in the north (1,080 km) and Myanmar in the east (440 km),’ he said.
Four of India’s northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram — share a 1,640-km-long border with Myanmar. It is manned by Assam Rifles and dense forests in most parts make the border porous and vulnerable to trans-border movement.
According to the minister, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) have set up their base camps in the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh.
The separatists occasionally kidnap people and extort money, said Dabi who was here in connection with the celebration of the 103rd birth anniversary of Tripura’s first chief minister Sachindra Lal Singh.
He said 37 Naga militants surrendered before the Arunachal Pradesh government earlier this month.
Regarding the demand of greater Nagaland by the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN, Dabi said: ‘On three occasions we have strongly told the centre and passed a unanimous resolution in the state assembly unambiguously proclaiming that not an inch of land of Arunachal Pradesh would be spared for the so-called greater Nagaland.’
‘There is also no area in Arunachal Pradesh where a reasonable number of Naga people reside,’ he added.
The Isak-Muivah faction has been struggling for nearly six decades to create a ‘Greater Nagaland’ by slicing off parts of three neighbouring states to unite 1.2 million Nagas. The demand is also opposed by Assam and Manipur.
Asked about Chakma and Hajong tribal refugess from Bangladesh, the Arunachal Pradesh minister said the state government has asked the central government to resolve issues related to their demand seeking Indian citizenship.
Over 80,000 Chakma and Hajong tribal refugees have been living in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit and Changlang districts for 46 years. These Buddhists fled from their ancestral lands in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh following religious persecution.
The minister stressed the need for joint efforts of all the northeastern states to remove economic backwardness. ‘All the chief ministers, MPs and leaders of the eight northeastern states must jointly approach the centre to resolve the problems of the region,’ Dabi added.
‘There are many common problems of northeastern states relating to security, economy, health, education, unemployment and infrastructure, ‘ he said.
15:34, August 10, 2010
The closure of Thai-Myanmar border checkpoint between Mae Sot and Myawaddy costs transborder trade around 88 million baht (2.74 million U.S. dollars) a day, Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said on Monday.
Thailand is now trying to negotiate to settle the problem, the minister was quoted as saying by Bangkok Biz News.
The minister said she would, in a bid to restore normal trade, discuss the matter with her Myanmar counterpart during the 42nd Economic Minister Meeting in August in Vietnam.
She said her ministry would also team up with Labor Ministry to solve labor shortage in export and apparel industries.
Recently, Thai industrial sector has heavily relied on Myanmar’ s labor due to inadequate local workforce in its labor market.
Myanmar government had shut down Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing point since July 18 in response to Thailand’s embankment building on the Moei River which it accuses of changing the dynamics of the water flow and possibly leading to erosion on the other side of the river. Crossing of people and vehicles as well as transportation of goods is forbidden since.
August 10, 2010: India and Thailand, the two most powerful neighbors of Burma, have made deals with the generals who have run the Burmese dictatorship for decades. Indian and Thai leaders consider this pragmatic, recognition that the generals are in charge, and will probably remain so for some time to come.
Distant North Korea is providing help in upgrading the Burmese military and security forces. North Korea is expert at running a police state. For reasons unclear, North Korea appears to helping Burma build nuclear weapons. Neighboring China freely sells Burma weapons for the military and police. Russian officials have revealed that over 4,000 Burmese officers have gone to Russia over the last decade to receive training in nuclear medicine and other aspects of nuclear power or weapons.
Only four percent of Burmese have access to telephones, which are a primary means for communicating long distances. The government does not want telephones to be available to potential opponents. It’s believed that there are about 1.2 million cell phone users, with service in 80 towns in cities, mainly in the south. Cell phones can only be obtained by people who are believed loyal to the government, and the phones are assumed to be tapped. There are now more cell phones than land lines (under 800,000). As has been discovered in most of the world, it’s cheaper to install cell phone service.
While the government has made peace (via threats and bribes) with most Karen tribal rebel leaders, a few have not really gone along. One Karen unit, the 5th Brigade, is known as still hostile to the government. The army has been ordered to hunt down and destroy the 5th Brigade, but this effort has so far not been successful.
The government has kept a major border crossing with Thailand closed since July 18th, because the Thais are accused of putting up a building that has changed the flow of a river to Burma’s disadvantage. This closure is costing Thailand over $2 million a day and keeping thousands of Burmese from their jobs in Thailand. The Burmese refuse to negotiate, it must be their way or nothing. But despite this dispute, the two countries are extending their deal to sell Burmese natural gas to Thailand. Burma needs the money, and Thai needs the energy.
Indrani Bagchi, TNN, Aug 10, 2010, 05.33am IST
NEW DELHI: India may look east or look west, but it’s the immediate neighbourhood that remains its top priority.
This week, the government has called all its ambassadors to SAARC countries for a brainstorming chat on neighbourhood diplomacy. Presided over by foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, the two-day affair is expected to thrash out issues with neighbouring countries, prioritising work plans, long-terms goals etc.
Two facts stand out this year — in an interesting precedent-setting exercise, Indian ambassador to China S Jaishankar and envoy to Myanmar V Seshadri have been added to the think-shop. Equally interesting is the fact that India’s top envoys of the region are meeting, not in India, but in Myanmar, a small but significant signal of the importance of the country to India’s foreign policy calculus. They will join G Mukhopadhyay, Sharat Sabharwal, Rakesh Sood, Ashok Kantha, Rajit Mitter and Pavan Verma to chart out the foreign office’s goals and plans in the region.
The Chinese presence is important because China now looms large in India’s interactions in the region, specially because Beijing has made itself an important countervailing force in the neighbourhood. Keeping Indian primacy, or promoting its interests in a region where neighbours are not always pleasantly disposed to India is a challenge at the best of times. Doing it while the countries concerned do the “balancing act” with China needs special strategic skills. It’s important, therefore, for all the arms of India’s neighbourhood diplomacy to sing from the same music sheet, complementing each other when the need arises.
Myanmar, in many ways is unique. Indian and Chinese presence in this country is almost similar, and growing. It’s a place where India came in late, but has made significant progress, fending off international criticism, but also successfully building confidence with Myanmar’s isolationist generals.
Burma is soon to hold its first election since 1990, but it looks set to be a farce that will embarrass the south-east Asian region
Pokpong Lawansiri
guardian.co. uk, Tuesday 10 August 2010 14.08 BST
By the end of this year, Burma will be holding its first election in two decades. This southeast Asian nation has been in the grip of the military government since 1962.
The military government has yet to announce the exact date, while there are rumours that the election could be held on 10 October, in conformity with the Burmese generals’ superstitious beliefs about numbers, that if it is held on 10/10/10 it could bring them victory.
In the last election witnessed by the country in May 1990, the now-dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) – a party led by the Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – won a landslide majority of 392 seats out of 492 seats. After the election, the military government refused to accept the result. Suu Kyi, the NLD’s MPs and its members were imprisoned. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, Burma’s government in exile, has documented the names of MPs that have died in prison or fled the country in exile. Many MPs have only been recently released.
For this upcoming election, the military government is getting smarter. It drafted a constitution, which took 10 years to write and is riddled with undemocratic elements such as barring candidates who are married to non-Burmese people from participating in the election. Thus, Suu Kyi is barred from participating. Furthermore, a third of the 664 parliamentary seats will be strictly reserved for the military. Based upon these irregularities, the NLD announced its refusal to join the election, making this an excuse for the military government to dissolve the party.
We can therefore be sure that this election will be neither free nor fair unless there are big changes based on the pressures from the international communities, especially from the association of southeast Asian nations (Asean), the regional grouping of 10 southeast Asian states, which Burma is a member.
The 43rd meeting of Asean foreign ministers, held last month in Hanoi, came up with a 15-page joint communiqué with only a single paragraph discussing the development in Burma. The paragraph states the “importance of national reconciliation in [Burma] and the holding of general election in a free, fair, and inclusive manner”. It does not, however, mention what Asean’s response would be if the election turned out to be a complete farce. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general and key stakeholder in Burma’s nation building, has already expressed his frustration at the “lack of co-operation at this critical moment”.
The statement from the meeting, however, is nothing new. Asean has been heavily criticised for not doing enough for Burma. After the violent crackdown on the streets of Rangoon in 2007, all it could offer to the Burmese people was a statement raising its concern.
During an interview with the BBC, Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general for Asean, saw the election as a step forward despite heavily criticisms from the NLD and the UN: “No election is going to be perfect. It is a positive step, better than not having election at all. It is a step forward”. At an international level, Asean member states are still silent with regards to the call by Tomás Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on Burma, to set up a commission of inquiry regarding the alleged war crimes the government has committed against its citizens.
In November 2007, Asean adopted its charter, which has an explicit aim to “strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect
human rights and fundamental freedoms”. The upcoming election will test whether the regional body can actually deliver what it promises to the people of Burma. As the date comes near, Asean must realise that Burma’s election could become an embarrassment to the regional grouping. The clock is ticking.
Last Updated: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:10:00 +1000
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon says Burma is on the verge of a lost opportunity, with the generals failing to respond to international expectations of planned elections later this year.
Speaking at a news conference in New York, Mr Ban said he and his special adviser continue their efforts to engage with the Burmese authorities on the political process.
But with not date yet announced and issues like the release of political prisoners still outstanding, Mr Ban has signalled time is short for Burma to act.
“It is a source of frustration, however, that Myanmar (Burma) has been unresponsive so far to these efforts,” he said.
“A lack of cooperation at this critical moment represents nothing less than a lost opportunity for Myanmar.”
Published on August 11, 2010
PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) will sell some of its shares in five gasexploration blocks in Burma to strategic partners in a move to diversify investment risks.
While cutting risks in Burma, PTTEP looks to strengthen its presence in Vietnam. President and chief executive officer, Anon Sirisaengtaksin said his company is ready to join in the bid for BP’s assets in Vietnam, which include a power plant, a gas field, and gas pipelines. Vietnam is one of the focus areas, and we will make a bid whenever BP announces details, he said.
On the sale of shares in Burma gas blocks M3, M4, M7, M9 and M11 – Anon said despite the share sale, PTTEP would remain as the blocks’ operator.
He did not give further details about expectations from the move or the proportion of shares to be sold.
PTTEP currently holds 100 per cent of all five blocks. Aside from new partners, Burmese national oil company Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE) will shortly take up 1520 per cent shares in all five blocks under a concession agreement.
“Though we are selling some stakes to other investors and MOGE, PTTEP’s stake in the five blocks will be maintained at no less than 50 per cent for management control,” Anon said.
PTTEP recently signed a deal with PTT to supply natural gas from Block M9 and partially from Block M11 to Thailand.
After more than 20 years of operation, PTTEP is engaged in exploration and production in more than 40 projects, extending from the Gulf of Thailand to other Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East, North Africa and Australia.
Anon said the company’s net profit this year was likely to exceed its projection, as the net in the first half of Bt21 billion was higher than 50 per cent of its fullyear target. Gas demand in the second half remains high, so it expects sales volume this year at 254,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 34 per cent higher than the expectation. Gas sales volume in the first half of this year was at 260,000boed.
He said the company expected its gas Block 162 in Vietnam to start operation in the second half of 2011 with production volume of 40,000boed.
By AUNG THET WINE – Tuesday, August 10, 2010
RANGOON—Burma’s military regime will likely impose restrictions on tourists from entering the country during the planned election this year, according to military sources in Naypyidaw.
The regime has not yet set the date for the election. However, the source said the election will be held during dry season, which is the high season for tourists.
“Orders will come out in the dry season to restrict the entrance into the country,” an army officer based in Naypyidaw told The Irrawaddy.
He said the restrictions may include the screening of individual travelers and the suspension of visas on arrival. Also, tourists from the US, Europe and other Western countries will not be granted permission to visit during the election period, he said.
“I still can’t say anything about the details,” he said. “But, I think security plans will follow right away after the polling date is set.”
An official at the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism said that so far no new restrictions on tourists have been received at the ministry.
Meanwhile, travel agencies and hotels inside Burma have raised concerns over the restrictions that may be imposed.
“The number of tourists has increased since they can obtain visas on arrival,” said a tourist guide in Rangoon. “Even now in the rainy season, there are a lot of Spanish and other tourists from Europe in town. Hotels and tourist agencies are fully booked for the coming tourist season as well.”
A hotel manager said if tourists are restricted because of the election, hotels and travel agencies will be severely affected since they will have to cancel all reservations.
A hotel manager said, “There are more tourists in town this year. Hotels and tourism are going well. We will suffer. It will have an impact on both the private sector and the government.”
A reporter inside Burma said the government fears that foreign reporters will enter the country as tourists and will try to report on what is really happening in the country during the election.
“After the monk-led 2007 Saffron Revolution and Cyclone Nargis, foreign journalists came inside with tourist visas to find out what was going on, and then they reported back to the international community,” he said.
During an official visit, the chairman of the Union Election Commission which oversees the electoral process told Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, that the government would not allow any foreigners to enter the country when the election was being held.
In Burma, travel agencies and tourist guides have to take responsibility to ensure that tourists who visit the country do not enter or take photographs in restricted areas.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed “frustration” at the Burmese regime’s failure to respond to his efforts to engage the Naypyidaw government.
“My special adviser [Tomas Ojea Quintana] and I are deploying every effort to continue to engage with the authorities,” Ban Ki-moon told a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday.
“I have been very clear in expressing our concerns and expectations regarding the political process, including the planned elections this year.
“It is a source of frustration, however, that Myanmar has been unresponsive so far to these efforts. A lack of cooperation at this critical moment represents nothing less than a lost opportunity for Myanmar.”
Ban Ki-moon spoke as news broke that the Burmese regime has denied a visa to permit Quintana to make a fourth visit to Burma. The news was carried by Inter Press Service.
It is believed that the regime’s treatment of Quintana may be a response to his call for a commission of inquiry into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese regime. Quintana made the call in a report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March.
The United Nations has tried to engage with the Burmese generals since 1992 through the efforts of Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy, in UN General Assembly resolutions and at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
However, no tangible positive result has yet resulted from the efforts to secure the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and to ensure a free, fair and inclusive general election.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 12:03 Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Supporters of seven detained Shan leaders are taking advantage of the regional visit of a special UN envoy to call on the world body to take up the cause of those detained.
Shan State Joint Action Committee (SSJAC) secretary Sai Lake said United Nations special envoy on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, should present to the UN the cases of seven detained Shan political prisoners.
The UN envoy, currently in Thailand, was urged to review the cases of the detained founders of the SSJAC, which was spawned from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and the armed ceasefire group Shan State Army-North in 1996.
Sai Lake said, “We want the junta to review the cases fairly under the pressure of the UN. Unless the victims are guilty, they (the junta) must free the detained leaders immediately.”
Quintana has been meeting with Burmese pro-democracy activists in Thailand since August 6 in order to collect information to submit to the UN General Assembly in November.
Nine Shan leaders were arrested for high treason in February 2005 after forming the SSJAC. One was freed for serving as a witness for the prosecution, while the rest were sentenced from 70 to more than 100 years in prison. One of the eight detained Shan leaders has since died in custody.
General Say Htin, 74, patron of the Shan State Army-North and currently serving a 106-year term in Sittwe prison, is in urgent need of medical treatment for an eye affliction.
“We demand not only appropriate medical treatment for him, but also his freedom,” Say Htin’s daughter Nan Kham Paung said.
The Shan State Army-North, based in Hsipaw and Lashio, maintains more than 4,000 troops. It signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta in 1989.
One of the detained Shan leaders, Myint Than, died of a heart attack in Thandwe Prison.
Khun Tun Oo, Sai Nyunt Lwin, Than Hla Aung, General Say Htin, Sai Myo Win Tun, Tun Nyo and Nyi Nyi Moe continue to be detained in Putao Prison, Kalay Prison, Kyaukphyu Prison, Sittwe Prison, Myinchan Prison, Butheetaung Prison and Pakkoku Prison, respectively.
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 10 August 2010
The military government’s proxy political party the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) are encouraging people to become members by blackmail and enticements in Rangoon and Mandalay, according to locals.
A resident in Mandalay told DVB that the USDP in the capital of central of Burma, Mandalay were coercing waiters, originally from other towns, at restaurants to join the party.
“Most [the waiters] are from other towns so they need to have guest-registrations to live and work in Mandalay. They were pressured via employers to join the USDP if they want the registration,” said the resident under condition of anonymity.
He said illegal two-digit and three-digit lottery sellers were also being blackmailed to join the party or else face criminal charges, adding that they were asked to sign ‘already-filled out’ party membership forms.
The USDP is headed by current Prime Minister Thein Sein and was formed out of the controversial military based ‘mass movement’ called the Union Solidarity Defense Association (USDA) . It gained notoriety after its alleged involvement in 2003s Depayin Massacre, in which at least 70 National League for Democracy (NLD) members were killed by a well-coordinated and well-armed mob. It was reformed as a political party earlier in the year to contest the upcoming elections, but has been dogged by allegations of foul play using its millitary backing and subsequent financial muscle to attract voters, including last month’s revelation that it was offering potential members low rate loans.
Locals in the former capital, Rangoon, meanwhile said the USDP members were going from door-to-door in suburban townships including Seik Khanaungto and Dala, persuading people over the age of 18 to join them with free USDP membership cards which they promised could give them more freedom to travel around the country and help them find jobs as well as less difficulty in guest registrations (by law residents are required to register any overnight guests with their local council).
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 10 August 2010
A ‘Third Force’ political party competing in the upcoming elections has called on the government’s Election Commission (EC) to stop handing their members’ lists, previously submitted as part of political party registration process, to the military intelligence.
Thu Wei, chairman of the Democratic Party (DP) said the party had sent a letter addressed to the EC in the capital Naypyidaw calling on it to stop passing political party members’ details to local intelligence officials who showed up at their houses ‘to collect more details’, making them weary of harassment.
“We learned that the EC had passed the members’ lists to the military intelligence. The intelligence officials have been showing up at their houses and asking for more personal details and photos,” said Thu Wei.
“Frankly, people don’t want to have anything to do with the intelligence believing that it will only bring them trouble.”
He said some of the DP’s members had quit the party in fear of harassment after they received visits by intelligence officials.
Nay Myo Wei, secretary of Diversity and Peace Party said: “There is only one option – if a party member quits because he or she is scared, then replace that person with a new member. This scenario is likely to repeat itself.”
Htun Aung Kyaw, chairman of New Era People’s Party, who had previously submitted its members list to the EC said the parties need to sit down and talk with the EC to find a solution to the situation.