BURMA RELATED NEWS – AUGUST 29-30, 2010
Aug 30th, 2010
1 hr 9 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar’s two biggest pro-democracy parties running in the upcoming election said Monday they had managed to field just a tenth of the number of candidates put up by the main pro-junta parties.
As Monday’s deadline for registering candidates arrived, opposition parties failed to find enough people to seriously challenge the military government.
Opposition parties said would-be politicians faced formidable hurdles, including a fee of 500 dollars per candidate — the equivalent of several months’ wages for most people — and a tight timetable to register to stand.
With fewer financial woes, the government’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told AFP it would put forward more than 1,000 candidates in the country’s first poll in 20 years.
And the pro-junta National Unity Party said it would have more than 990 candidates. “So we think the USDP will be our main rival,” said spokesman Han Shwe.
In comparison the National Democratic Force (NDF) and the Democratic Party (Myanmar), the largest pro-democracy groups, said they would field only about 200 candidates between them for the November 7 vote for some 1,200 national and regional seats.
Thu Wai, chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said his group would put forward about 60 candidates.
“We are still waiting for the candidate list from the regions, but we will not get as many as we estimated lately,” he said.
NDF chairman Than Nyein said the party, which is made up of former members of detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, had about 140 candidates.
More than 40 political parties have been given permission to stand in the polls, but some have expressed concerns over the problems they face, including alleged intimidation of members.
The polls have been widely dismissed by critics as a charade to entrench military power. The junta recently conducted a major reshuffle within military ranks and several top members retired to contest the elections as USDP members.
A quarter of the legislature is reserved for serving military, in addition to army veterans who win positions as junta-backed civilians.
The government-favoured USDP has merged with the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a rich pro-junta group with up to 27 million members, including civil servants compelled to join for the good of their careers.
Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has been detained for much of the past 20 years, won the country’s last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied office by the junta.
She is barred from running this year because she is a serving prisoner and her National League for Democracy — which would have been the greatest threat to the junta — is boycotting the poll on grounds that the rules are unfair.
The party has subsequently been disbanded by the ruling generals, and no other opposition group has managed to garner the same level of support and recognition among the public.
Mon Aug 30, 7:28 am ET
YANGON (AFP) – Two Chinese warships have made a rare visit to military-ruled Myanmar to spend several days promoting ties between the allied countries’ armed forces, Chinese state media said Monday.
The ships from the People’s Liberation Army Navy docked at Yangon’s Thilawa port on Sunday afternoon and will launch a series of exchanges with Myanmar’s navy, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The five-day mission is aimed at promoting friendly relationships between the two armed forces of the two countries and exchange between the two navies,” the report said.
A Chinese defence ministry official confirmed the ships’ arrival to AFP.
The warships, which Xinhua said were welcomed with a “grand ceremony”, have arrived as Myanmar prepares for its first election in twenty years on November 7, which has been widely criticised by activists and the West as a sham.
While numerous Western nations direct sanctions at Myanmar, which has been military ruled since 1962, China is the junta’s key ally, trading partner and an eager investor in the isolated state’s sizeable natural resources.
In November China’s top oil producer began construction of a pipeline across Myanmar.
The Asian economic powerhouse has long helped keep Myanmar afloat through trade ties, arms sales, and by shielding it from UN sanctions over rights abuses as a veto-wielding, permanent member of the Security Council.
In return, China is assured of a stable neighbour and access to raw materials from Myanmar, such as teak and gems.
Ties between the two countries frayed last year when fighting between Myanmar’s isolated junta and rebel ethnic armies in the northeast drove tens of thousands of refugees into China, which issued a rare admonishment to Myanmar.
The issue of border stability was discussed when Wen Jiabao visited Myanmar in June — the first Chinese premier to do so in 16 years.
He met reclusive junta chief Than Shwe and the two sides signed a series of agreements on trade, finance, energy, science and technology.
Mon Aug 30, 5:44 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Political parties challenging Myanmar’s ruling junta in the country’s first election in two decades said they can’t afford to compete in every constituency because of the exorbitant fees charged to register candidates.
All candidates contesting the Nov. 7 elections are required to pay the Election Commission a fee of 500,000 kyat ($500) by Monday — a staggering sum in a country where the average schoolteacher’s monthly salary is $70.
The junta is portraying the elections as a key step in shifting to civilian rule after five decades of military domination, but critics call them a sham and say the military shows little sign of relinquishing control. The system of registering candidates is one of many that critics point to as weighted in the junta’s favor.
The junta announced the election date on Aug. 13 and gave parties just over two weeks to submit their candidate lists by the end of the day Monday. Parties complained the deadline was too rushed to allow them to enlist potential candidates nationwide and that the registration fee was prohibitively expensive. One petitioned the junta to reduce the registration fee and extend the deadline but was ignored.
Candidates are vying for a total of 1,162 seats, including 498 seats in Myanmar’s two-chamber Union Parliament and 664 seats spread among 14 regional parliaments.
Parties typically pay candidate registration fees, but, because of a lack of funds, many say they have been forced to scale back the number of contenders making it impossible to effectively challenge to junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, or USDP, which is fielding a candidate for every seat available.
The party of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is boycotting the election, which it says is undemocratic and unfair. Her National League for Democracy party won the last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the junta refused to honor the results.
The National Democratic Force, formed by renegade members of Suu Kyi’s party, expects to field “at least 140 candidates” for both houses as well as regional parliaments, said Than Nyein, the party chairman.
“We wanted to field more candidates but due to financial restraints, we may not be able to field as many candidates as we wanted,” said Than Nyein.
But in the absence of Suu Kyi’s party, no opposition party has a major national presence.
The only party that comes close is the National Unity Party, previously known as the Burma Socialist Programme party, which will field over 300 candidates for the national legislature and about 500 for regional parliaments. But the party lacks popularity — it won only 10 seats in the last election — and is not considered competition for the junta as people remain hostile toward past socialist governments.
Asia Times Online – Soldiers strip their khakis in Myanmar
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK – As the November 7 general election in Myanmar approaches, the ruling junta is revealing the political designs underway in order to place the powerful military under civilian authority.
The latest of these steps came to light on August 27 when the news broke that senior military officers were resigning from the army, taking many Myanmar watchers by surprise. This shake-up is to make them eligible to be the civilian face of the new pro-junta government that is expected to emerge after the democratic election, the first in the country in two decades.
But a cloud of uncertainty hangs over one question: Is reclusive strongman, the 77-year-old Senior Gen Than Shwe, to be on that list of resigned officers? Media outlets run by Burmese journalists in exile claim that Than Shwe has stepped down as military supreme commander, but this could not be independently confirmed.
“Burmese junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his deputy Gen Maung Aye have resigned their military posts, along with six other top military officers,” reported The Irrawaddy, published in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. “The eight top men will retain their government posts,” a story on The Irrawaddy website added, quoting sources from the capital Naypyidaw in central Myanmar.
A Yangon-datelined report from Reuters news agency concurred with that assessment. “Myanmar’s top three rulers resigned from the military Friday, a senior army source said, paving their way to assume the most powerful roles in the country after a parliamentary election in November,” it said, using the name the junta calls the country.
Under Than Shwe’s watch, the size of Myanmar’s military has doubled to some 450,000 troops in this Southeast Asian country of more than 53 million people. Friday’s announcement of senior officers shedding their military fatigues for civilian attire also resulted in a reshuffle in all regional commands and ranking military positions.
This has allowed an unprecedented number of younger officers to move up in a military that has held power since its suppression of a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 left over 3,000 protesters dead. “This is the biggest military reshuffle since 1988, involving around 200 senior military officers,” said Win Min, a Myanmar military affairs expert living in exile.
This move by Than Shwe is linked to the general election, added Win Min. “By making this biggest military reshuffle, Than Shwe appears to believe that he can control the electoral process to make sure his party will win the elections and he can control the new military leaders.”
“Than Shwe also seems to believe that it is better for him to handpick the new generation of military leaders before the elections to make sure of their loyalty,” he said. “This new generation of officers are in their 50s.”
The reports of resignations and reshuffles come four months after Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and 26 senior military officers quit the army to contest the November poll as candidates for the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
Under Myanmar’s 2008 constitution, which was approved in a referendum plagued with fraud, the new president to be selected after the November polls has to be a civilian who is “well acquainted” with military affairs. The charter, which spells out changes in Myanmar’s political order after the poll, has language that emphasizes greater civilian authority over the military.
The last time Myanmar, then known as Burma, had such a hierarchy in place was from 1974, when the second constitution came into force, until the bloody crackdown of the pro-democracy movement in 1988. The government was then in the hands of the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP), which was created by then strongman General Ne Win, who had grabbed power in a 1962 military coup.
The 14 years under the BSPP, whose ranks had many retired military officers, saw a semblance of the supremacy of civilian authority, unlike the early years of the Ne Win dictatorship where the army ruled in the military-dominated Revolutionary Council.
The BSPP government sustained this veneer of ‘democracy’ by holding elections every four years, none of which provided for a multi-party contest. Voters had only one choice – the party’s nominee. Against this backdrop, some Myanmar watchers find Than Shwe’s move to give the appearance of greater civilian authority over the military very much in line with the BSPP years.
“Anybody who thinks that this is a latent sincerity towards democracy is deluding themselves,” said David Scott Mathieson, Myanmar consultant for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based global rights lobby. “They are doing it to have a veneer of respectability.”
“They have created one-sided laws that favor their party,” Mathieson said. “But the signals they are sending out is that they want to stay within the laws.”
It was to protest such restrictions that the political party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi decided to boycott the November poll, leading to the official disbandment of the National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD had won a thumping victory at the last general election in 1990, but the military regime refused to recognize the outcome.
To avoid a repeat of that nullified result, Myanmar’s new constitution guarantees the military 25% of seats in the 498-seat national legislature. Likewise, the USDP’s candidates, including retired military officials, enjoy more financial muscle and freedom to campaign than the 40 other political parties in the running in the poll.
Ron Corben | Bangkok 30 August 2010
The top official of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has warned Burma it faces a test in allowing international donors access to areas of country still recovering from Cyclone Nargis. The warning came at a United Nations conference assessing the aid effort after Nargis.
Cyclone Nargis swept across Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008. It left 140,000 dead and more than two-million people displaced.
Buildings were destroyed, rice fields devastated, and thousands of farm animals were lost. The loss was estimated at close to $4-billion dollars.
Burma’s military government faced international criticism for not allowing the global donor community access to the most devastated regions.
Eventually, Burma agreed to allow in aid through a tripartite core group with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United Nations.
UN-ASEAN partnership
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said Monday that in the future, ASEAN and the U.N. must work together to respond quickly to regional disasters.
“We have agreed that next time around when disaster strikes on the landscape of ASEAN, we will go to the field together from the very beginning to do the rapid assessment of the need, of the damage, and of the necessary actions that would be required for us to help relieve the suffering of the victims,” Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said.
Surin spoke at a U.N. conference assessing the Nargis aid effort.
The conference comes as Burma prepares for elections in November. Human rights groups say the vote is a sham to extend military control, since the military has been allocated a quarter of the seats in the new parliament.
Thai newspapers have said that ahead of the election, Burma’s military has claimed credit for much of the aid supplies and funds that came from overseas.
Burma faces critical test
Surin says Burma – also known as Myanmar – faces a critical test after the vote. The government must convince the world it will cooperate with donors.
“If this (test) Myanmar fails, then the world will certainly be very reluctant to continue to work and integrate Myanmar into the international community post elections, he add ed. “So it is extremely critical, extremely important.”
Noeleen Heyzer is the executive secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. At the conference she said a faster response to Nargis “could have saved more lives and reduced the damage.”
Heyzer also said national governments and aid agencies must work as partners in disasters.
“Leadership matters and therefore the internal governance of the country is critical in order to build trust,” said Heyzer. ” And trust was built in terms of moving the Nargis agenda forward in terms of the tripartite group. Partnership matters and accountability matters as well, and here the partnership of donors is critical.
U.N. officials say they received enough donations to help Burma right after Nargis hit, but that funding for long-term rebuilding and development has proven “a more difficult challenge.”
Mon, Aug 30, 2010
The Nation/Asia News Network
BURMA – As the Burmese election approaches, the military junta increasingly tightens the screws to ensure that nothing will go wrong on November 7. The outcome would favour the surrogate parties run by military appointed politicians apart from themselves.
To prepare for that eventuality, several senior military leaders including General Than Shwe, General Maung Aye, General Shwe Mann and others have retired. Although they are out of their green uniforms, they are still totally in control of Burmese lives. Don’t be fooled by the colour of their shirts.
House-arrested Aung San Suu Kyi has called on voters to boycott this election, which will be used as a tool to further entrench the power wielders in the military.
With or without an election, the tatmadaw will continue to reign supreme. With the election, 25 per cent of seats in the House of Nationalities (220) and the House of Representatives (440) would be filled by military appointed names. Retired generals who get elected are not counted as part of this group’s quota.
Over 1,000 politicians, nominees of the military junta, belonging to the Union of Solidarity and Development Party would probably take up most of the seats.
At least 500 candidates from pro-democracy parties are contesting against the junta cronies. But they are faced with all kinds of political barriers to prevent them from fully participating in the November election. For instance, political candidates need US$500 (S$678) to register their name. It is ridiculous that such an impoverished country would require such a high fee.
Indeed, while it is still fresh in the public memory, the junta is making use of the progress made during the rehabilitation of devastation brought about by the 2008 Nargis Cyclone to woo voters.
More than $600 million, mainly from the West but coupled with China, Japan, Thailand and Singapore were injected into the country’s economy and helped to alleviate the plight of millions of affected villagers. The junta has claimed credits repeatedly for these outside contributions.
Therefore, the junta is working hard to prevent foreign elements, including humanitarian officials working under the Nargis scheme, from finding out what it is doing and having access to the electoral process and constituencies. They fear the aid workers would tell all on what they witness during the election.
As usual, journalists are barred from covering the event. International observers, according to the junta, are not needed because they have sufficient experience in organising an election. Even the offer by Asean to dispatch a team of observers during the election has been turned down.
Asean has to ponder very carefully now whether to give carte blanche endorsement to the poll’s outcome. The junta has already displayed strong signs that international appeal for a free, fair and inclusive election would not be heeded.
Asean has already suffered from the past 13 years after Burma’s admission. To remedy the situation, Asean has to take a firm stand on the upcoming poll. After all, Asean is a rule-based organisation which respects democratic values and international norms. Failure to do so would tamper further the grouping’s ambition to become an international player.
by Mike Giglio, August 29, 2010
The last time Burma’s junta tried rigging an election in hopes of putting a civilian face on its military rule, in 1990, it was routed at the polls. The junta responded by annulling the results. Now, with the country’s first vote in 20 years set for Nov. 7, the generals have apparently learned their lesson: this time, the process will be even more tightly controlled.
In 2008 the junta pushed through a Constitution that guarantees it a quarter of parliamentary seats and a continued stranglehold on state power. In the upcoming elections, meanwhile, opposition candidates need permission to campaign and are barred from shouting slogans, waving flags, criticizing the junta, or “harming security.” Civil servants and monks are barred from running, as is anyone convicted of a crime—which means a good portion of the politically inclined. And parties must submit a list of at least 1,000 members in order to register, a scary proposition for voters who live in constant fear of the military and its spies. (One party chair has complained that security forces are already intimidating members on his list.)
None of this lends the appearance of legitimacy to the elections, and candidates are starting to quit in protest and threatening to boycott the polls. Unfortunately, this will likely matter very little to countries such as the other ASEAN nations and China, which have already been willing to do business with the junta and turn a blind eye to human rights. Worse, it may even give political cover to those like India that hope to ramp up trade with Burma. Twenty years later, it’s likely that the junta will finally get its desired results at the polls—but from an election free in name only.
Posted : Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:18:11 GMT
Bangkok – The United Nations on Monday stressed the importance of rapid international reaction to disasters, after the delay in getting help to Myanmar after a cyclone two years ago was widely condemned.
A UN representative said that “trust has been built” in the two years since Cyclone Nargis inundated the Irrawaddy Delta on May 2-3 2008, when bureaucratic difficulties prevented outside aid from reaching those affected for the critical first days and weeks.
At the conference hosted by Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to discussed lessons learned after Cyclone Nargis, participants agreed victims should receive aid faster next time.
Relief efforts after Nargis were held up as the Myanmar ruling junta denied entry visas to aid workers for several months after the disaster, which left up to 140,000 dead or missing.
An action plan was finally established between the government, United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for emergency and recovery efforts, but the delay drew widespread criticism.
On Monday, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said Myanmar’s attitude to international aid improved in the months following the disaster.
“Myanmar has come to realize there is help out there” from the international community, Surin said.
But the country’s ruling generals have still been criticized for hindering the aid organizations that have been working for two years to help those affected by the cyclone.
In her speech at the conference, UN Under Secretary General Dr Noeleen Heyzer said the organizations involved do have a “sense of accomplishment.”
But “swift support in the immediate aftermath of the disaster could have saved more lives and reduced the damage,” said Dr Heyzer, who is also Executive Secretary of the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Asked about Myanmar’s role in the relief efforts, she said “much of the work has to be done at the local level, and there has to be accountability,” without providing further details.
Published: 30 Aug 2010 02:44:38 PST
* Myanmar’s govt trying to boost production, exports
* More government incentives needed, according to farmers
* Statistics fail to cover all cross-border exports
YANGON/BANGKOK, Aug 30 – Military-ruled Myanmar, once the world’s biggest rice exporter, is taking steps to revive the sector after years of mismanagement and could become a top exporter again in a few years, officials and traders said.
Under British colonial rule, the former Burma shipped 3.4 million tonnes in 1934, its best year.
The government helped set up the Myanmar Rice Industry Association this year through a merger of rice associations and a think tank grouping economists and technocrats, while handicaps such as as poor port facilities are being tackled. [ID:nSGE61A0E2]
“Problems relating to mismanagement and other obstacles will be reduced very soon and we could see Myanmar as one of the world’s top 10 rice exporters in a few years,” said Prachuab Supinee, a Thai trade diplomat in Yangon.
It won’t be plain sailing, and local operators are worried about immediate prospects, with exports suffering this year from delays in the issuing of export licences and a lack of government incentives for farmers to grow more rice.
According to data compiled by private surveyor SGS (Myanmar) Ltd. and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), Myanmar has exported just 301,984 tonnes of rice this year, compared with 794,800 tonnes at the same point in 2009.
It exported 1.09 million tonnes of rice in 2009, up from 547,000 tonnes in 2008.
“Incentives for the growers are diminishing year after year. The authorities often try to control rice prices in the consumer market by all possible means,” complained So Myint, a Yangon-based farmer from Kunkyangone Township.
OUTLOOK
Diplomat Prachuab said development of trade facilities, including ports and logistic systems as part of the agreement covering the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) implemented this year, would enable rice exports to be processed more smoothly.
Trade ties between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea had brought seeds, funding and research to help rice production, he added.
Myanmar produces around 30 million tonnes of paddy each year, much the same level as Thailand, the world’s biggest exporter, but Thailand exports 8.0 to 10.0 million tonnes a year.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says Myanmar has a population of around 50 million — estimates vary widely — and consumes around 56 percent of its rice production, around 17-18 million tonnes.
That, in theory, leaves up to 12 million tonnes of paddy, which equates to around 7 million tonnes of milled rice, for export each year.
However, much goes into neighbouring Bangladesh through non-recorded border trade and the statistics show just 500,000-800,000 tonnes of rice shipped out of Yangon port per year.
The bulk of the rice left after exports and domestic consumption is kept in granaries for seeds for the next crop.
“Rice exports through Yangon port are rising and it wouldn’t be difficult for Myanmar to become a major exporter of rice again as its rice surplus is expected to rise every year,” said Paka-on Tipayatanadaja, an analyst at Kasikorn Research Center.
Kiattisak Kanlayasirivat, a trader at Novel Agritrade in Bangkok, said Myanmar’s rice was competitive in terms of price, being offered at around $350 per tonne, compared with $450 for the same grade in Thailand and Vietnam.
“Trading houses have bought a lot of Myanmar rice to be delivered to clients in Africa in the past few years and they were expected to continue to buy,” he said.
13:45, August 30, 2010
The National Library in Myanmar’s new capital of Nay Pyi Taw will be upgraded to a digital one to promote research on modern Myanmar literature, according to literate circle Monday.
Compilation has been underway on a database containing information of over 300 authors including biographies of some famous authors.
The digital reference library will serve as a comprehensive source of information about Myanmar literature from the 20th century to the contemporary era, the sources said.
Meanwhile, in 2008, the Myanmar Central University Library exchanged thousands of books and treatises with 12 foreign counterparts to widen the scope of knowledge of the people.
During that year, the Myanmar university library sent a total of 1,021 books and treatises to its foreign counterparts and received 2,320 in return.
The cooperation in the exchange started in 1971 with 23 university libraries from 10 countries — England, The United States, Austria, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, France, China and Germany.
Moreover, Myanmar information authorities have also appealed to the public to help expand rural self-reliant libraries and the number of such self-reliant libraries in the rural areas has so far reached 55,755 out of over 60,000 villages.
According to the sources, basic library science courses are being conducted, aimed at turning out good librarians to contribute to the development of rural self-reliant libraries.
To encourage preservation and promotion of literary and cultural heritage, the Myanmar government also presents literary awards to successful winners annually.
Besides, the Sarpay Beikman (Myanmar Translation Society), established in 1947, has published numerous magazines, lexicons, illustrated journals and volumes of Myanmar encyclopedia as well as extends its manuscript award to literary talents every year.
2010-08-30 11:20:00
China is ready to sign a pact with Bangladesh on a road link via Myanmar, a visiting Chinese official has said.
China had expressed its support to build a 111-km road covering the three nations in March this year. It will link the southern Yunnan province with Bangladesh via Myanmar.
Qin Guangrong, governor of Yunnan province, told Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Sunday that China was ready to sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Bangladesh on road and rail communications.
The official is on a two-day visit to the country following an invitation from the prime minister during her visit to China in March this year.
She had discussed the project with Chinese officials during her visit.
Hasina said the Chittagong-Myanmar-Kunming highway will play a vital role in increasing bilateral trade and commerce.
‘Bangladesh looks forward to establishing direct road and rail links with China via Myanmar,’ The Daily Star reported Monday quoting Hasina as saying.
China is Bangladesh’s largest trade partner and supplier of defence hardware.
(AFP) 30 August 2010
YANGON — Myanmar’s two biggest pro-democracy parties running in the upcoming election said Monday they had managed to field just a tenth of the number of candidates put up by the main pro-junta parties.
As Monday’s deadline for registering candidates arrived, opposition parties failed to find enough people to seriously challenge the military government.
Opposition parties said would-be politicians faced formidable hurdles, including a fee of 500 dollars per candidate — the equivalent of several months’ wages for most people — and a tight timetable to register to stand.
With fewer financial woes, the government’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told AFP it would put forward more than 1,000 candidates in the country’s first poll in 20 years.
And the pro-junta National Unity Party said it would have more than 990 candidates. “So we think the USDP will be our main rival,” said spokesman Han Shwe.
In comparison the National Democratic Force (NDF) and the Democratic Party (Myanmar), the largest pro-democracy groups, said they would field only about 200 candidates between them for the November 7 vote for some 1,200 national and regional seats.
Thu Wai, chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said his group would put forward about 60 candidates.
“We are still waiting for the candidate list from the regions, but we will not get as many as we estimated lately,” he said.
NDF chairman Than Nyein said the party, which is made up of former members of detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, had about 140 candidates.
More than 40 political parties have been given permission to stand in the polls, but some have expressed concerns over the problems they face, including alleged intimidation of members.
The polls have been widely dismissed by critics as a charade to entrench military power. The junta recently conducted a major reshuffle within military ranks and several top members retired to contest the elections as USDP members.
A quarter of the legislature is reserved for serving military, in addition to army retirees who win positions as junta-backed civilians.
The government-favoured USDP has merged with the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a rich pro-junta group with up to 27 million members, including civil servants compelled to join for the good of their careers.
Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has been detained for much of the past 20 years, won the country’s last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied office by the junta.
She is barred from running this year because she is a serving prisoner and her National League for Democracy — which would have been the greatest threat to the junta — is boycotting the poll on grounds that the rules are unfair.
The party has subsequently been disbanded by the ruling generals, and no other opposition group has managed to garner the same level of support and recognition among the public.
By John Roberts
30 August 2010
Just days after the announcement of national elections in Burma, the US administration indicated last week that it would back the creation of a UN inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Burmese junta.
The US move has nothing to do with bringing the Burmese generals to justice for their oppressive rule. In the first instance, it is aimed at pressuring the junta to ease restrictions on the opposition during the election campaign. More fundamentally, however, Washington is seeking to undercut Chinese ties with Burma by fashioning a regime more in line with US strategic interests in Asia.
The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) announced on August 13 that national and regional elections would be held on November 7. The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won the last election, held in 1990, but the military overturned the result.
The junta’s constitution and electoral laws ensure in advance that the Burmese military will remain firmly in control. Of the 440 seats in the House of Representatives, 110 will be filled by military appointees. In the House of Nationalities, 168 seats will be contested, with 56 filled by soldiers. The president, who must be an army officer, will appoint ministers and nominate supreme court judges. The army chief will install the security ministers.
The Union Election Commission (UEC) has permitted 40 parties to participate in the election, out of the 47 parties that applied. But the NLD is boycotting the election because the election law excludes anyone with a criminal record being a member of a registered party. As a result the NLD would have had to expel Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past 20 years on trumped-up political charges.
In May, the regime officially dissolved the NLD, in effect for refusing to participate in the poll under the military’s terms. Currently at least 429 NLD members are in prison, along with at least 2,100 other political prisoners and an unknown number of ethnic separatists.
The junta has established the Union Solidarity and Development Party led by Prime Minister Thein Sein and 26 ministers and senior officials. Eleven of the other parties are thought to have the regime’s support. The remaining parties—no matter how limited their opposition—face considerable hurdles to running in the elections.
Parties must submit a list of candidates in advance and provide a non-refundable deposit of $US500 per candidate—a huge sum for most Burmese. Candidates must seek official permission a week in advance to hold election rallies. Holding flags and calling out slogans during marches is banned, as is making speeches or publishing material that “tarnish the image” of the military or conducting activities “that can harm security”.
The regime’s decision to hold the election at all is the result of protracted pressure by the US and its European allies, which have maintained sanctions on Burma since 1988. The Bush administration intensified the punitive measures, forcing the junta to announce a “road map” for political reform in December 2003. The drawn-out process resulted in a new constitution being approved by plebiscite in 2008 at the height of the humanitarian crisis that followed the devastating Cyclone Nargis.
After completing a policy review in September 2009, the Obama administration adopted a pragmatic carrot-and-stick approach—maintaining sanctions, but offering the possibility of improved relations if the junta met US demands. In the same month, US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met with senior Burmese officials at the UN and, in November 2009, he became the most senior US official to visit Burma in nearly 15 years.
The Obama administration has made clear that any easing of sanctions is conditional on the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi playing a role. Suu Kyi supports the opening up of Burma for foreign investment, and closer relations with the US and the European powers that have backed her. The junta, however, is deeply concerned that any easing of restrictions could lead to the eruption of political opposition—regardless of any NLD guarantees.
The military leaders took the reins of power in 1988 after crushing mass anti-junta protests, killing an estimated 3,000 people in Rangoon alone. Suu Kyi and the NLD played a crucial role in enabling the generals to stabilise their rule by calling off demonstrations at the height of the crisis in return for a pledge of elections. The NLD won 392 of the 485 seats in the 1990 poll but, having consolidated its hold, the junta annulled the result.
Before the announcement of the electoral laws in March, the US and European powers were cautiously supportive of the planned election. However, with little prospect of any significant political change emerging from the election, the Obama administration has stepped up the pressure on the junta.
Unsubstantiated claims surfaced in the US and international media that the junta had a secret program to build nuclear weapons and was receiving technology from North Korea, in breach of sanctions imposed on Pyongyang after its 2009 nuclear test. A UN report released in May accused North Korea of using several companies and countries, including Burma, to export nuclear and missile technology.
The Burmese regime has flatly denied any nuclear ambitions, stating that impoverished “Myanmar [Burma] is not in a position to produce nuclear weapons”. The junta denounced the allegations as “politically motivated” and designed to prevent dialogue between Burma and the US. The generals are cautiously seeking a rapprochement with the US to avoid over-reliance on China.
There is no doubt that the junta is responsible for brutal repression and gross abuses of democratic rights. However, as in other parts of the globe, Washington cynically exploits the issue of “human rights” on a selective basis to press US interests.
Reporting on US support for a UN inquiry, the Washington Post commented: “The Obama administration entered office with a desire to shift course on Burma—both as part of a strategy to improve relations with all nations of South East Asia and as part of a belief that Burma… should not be allowed to become a client state of China… But Burma rebuffed the outreach and announced a series of severe restrictions on campaigning ahead of coming elections.”
China already has close economic and strategic ties with Burma. Beijing is helping to develop significant new gas fields off Burma’s coast, in the Bay of Bengal. The plans include a 2,400-kilometre pipeline and a parallel oil pipeline that will alleviate China’s dependence on shipping crucial energy supplies from the Middle East and Africa through the Malacca Strait. At the same time, Beijing is assisting Burma to build ports and naval facilities that could be used by China as it develops its blue water navy to protect sea routes that are effectively controlled by the US.
The Obama administration’s decision to turn up the heat on the Burmese junta is part of a broader strategy to aggressively undermine Chinese influence throughout the region. Over the past two months, Washington has backed South East Asian countries against China over their contending claims in the South China Sea and provocatively held joint naval exercises with South Korea, despite Beijing’s objections. If the Burmese regime fails to make concessions, the White House will undoubtedly look for an even bigger stick.
Man, His Three Children Convicted For Human Trafficking
PUTRAJAYA, Aug 30 (Bernama) — The Immigration Department has prosecuted a man and his three children under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007 for trafficking 12 Myanmar immigrants, including two women and three children.
Its director-general, Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said the man was sentenced to five years’ jail under Section 12 and 14 of the act after he was found guilty by the Kota Baharu Sessions Court, yesterday.
“His two sons and a daughter were each sentenced to three years’ jail under the act,” he told reporters on Monday.
Abdul Rahman said more such cases would be brought up to the court.
Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy (Weblog) – BURMA’S NUCLEAR BATTALION
By: Roland Watson
August 28, 2010
In June, we published lists of 660 Burma military officers who in 2009 began masters or doctoral programs in Russia at fourteen different technical universities. We now understand that the lists were prepared for submission to and approval by Russia’s Foreign Minister. They were in English to facilitate this communication. students listing (pdf) (http://www.dictatorwatch.org/prstudentlists.html)
Of the 2009 class – Batch 9, 111 were directly assigned to the SPDC’s nuclear project. We have also now learned that the mysterious HRD project stands for Human Resources Department, and includes personnel with specialities that suggest links to the other projects (Nuclear, Tunnel, Computer, etc.), but which for some reason did not have such a direct assignment. Of the HRD personnel, over thirty have nuclear related specialities, making a total of at least 140 personnel from the 2009 intake being trained in nuclear science. We repeat, this is conclusive evidence that the SPDC has a clandestine nuclear program, and that it lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency when it said that it did not.
We have now received additional hard documentation abut the
nuclear program: A construction status report, building plan, and maps, of the #1 Science and Technology Battalion at Thabeikkyin, aka the Nuclear Battalion, and which is believed to be the center of the overall program.
The documents that follow are from 2006, and relate to the initial construction of the Nuclear Battalion, including buildings, factories, and road, electricity and water infrastructure. They describe a facility for upwards of five hundred personnel, but which also envisioned a potential ten-fold expansion. We think it likely that much of this expansion has been completed in the intervening years.
If so, this answers the question of where the bulk of the scientists trained over the last nine years in Russia (and also the officers known to have studied in North Korea) are working.
Burma’s Nuclear Battalion is located in a mountain valley some twenty kilometers northeast of the town of Thabeikkyin, in the Kyaukkyi Forest Reserve (just southeast of the village of Kyaukkyi).
Imagery of the specific location is not available from Google Earth. We sincerely hope that experts tracking the program will use their own imagery services to photograph the facility as it now exists, and make the images public so everyone can see.
Our initial intel about Thabeikkyin (also from 2006) said that there was a uranium milling facility associated with the operation, and which Jane’s Intelligence has now prospectively identified. While we do not have access to Jane’s images, we believe the mill is not at this location. The remote mountain site suggests a different purpose.
We unfortunately do not have the internal layouts of the Battalion’s factories. However, we do know that the initial design included five factories, a group of three and another group of two, and also that two larger factories were planned. Rather than uranium milling, we believe the Nuclear Battalion’s primary objective is enrichment and weapons development. The refined uranium (yellowcake) for the enrichment program is presumably coming from the mill.
We can also comment that the use of a secret mountain site for uranium enrichment parallels the actions of both Iran and North Korea.
Plan for buildings, lighting, water and sewage for #1 Science and Technology Battalion, Thabeikkyin.
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk1.pdf
Water specifications
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk2.pdf
Status report, first phase of building, 3 May 2006
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk3.pdf
Directive on 12 March 2006 concerning completion of building
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk4.pdf
Report on 33 KV power line and 33/11 KV, 4MVA substation completion
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk5.pdf
Outside water supply
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk6.pdf
Completion of road construction
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk7.pdf
Building plan for #1 Science and Technology Battalion, Thabeikkyin
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk8.pdf
Topographical map showing the location of the Nuclear Battalion
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk9.pdf
Map of the extension of the power lines from the Battalion south to Wabyudaung and also east towards Thabeikkyin
http://www.dictatorwatch.org/images/tbk10.pdf
Published: 30/08/2010 at 10:56 PM
Online news: Breakingnews
Burma’s two biggest pro-democracy parties running in the upcoming election said Monday they had managed to field just a tenth of the number of candidates put up by the main pro-junta parties.
A Burma man reads a newspaper by the road side in downtown Rangoon on August 30. Burma’s two biggest pro-democracy parties running in the upcoming election said Monday they had managed to field just a tenth of the number of candidates put up by the main pro-junta parties.
As Monday’s deadline for registering candidates arrived, opposition parties failed to find enough people to seriously challenge the military government.
Opposition parties said would-be politicians faced formidable hurdles, including a fee of $500 per candidate — the equivalent of several months’ wages for most people — and a tight timetable to register to stand.
With fewer financial woes, the government’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) said it would put forward more than 1,000 candidates in the country’s first poll in 20 years.
And the pro-junta National Unity Party said it would have more than 990 candidates. “So we think the USDP will be our main rival,” said spokesman Han Shwe.
In comparison the National Democratic Force (NDF) and the Democratic Party (Burma), the largest pro-democracy groups, said they would field only about 200 candidates between them for the November 7 vote for some 1,200 national and regional seats.
Thu Wai, chairman of the Democratic Party (Burma), said his group would put forward about 60 candidates.
“We are still waiting for the candidate list from the regions, but we will not get as many as we estimated lately,” he said.
NDF chairman Than Nyein said the party, which is made up of former members of detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, had about 140 candidates.
More than 40 political parties have been given permission to stand in the polls, but some have expressed concerns over the problems they face, including alleged intimidation of members.
The polls have been widely dismissed by critics as a charade to entrench military power. The junta recently conducted a major reshuffle within military ranks and several top members retired to contest the elections as USDP members.
A quarter of the legislature is reserved for serving military, in addition to army veterans who win positions as junta-backed civilians.
The government-favoured USDP has merged with the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a rich pro-junta group with up to 27 million members, including civil servants compelled to join for the good of their careers.
Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has been detained for much of the past 20 years, won the country’s last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied office by the junta.
She is barred from running this year because she is a serving prisoner and her National League for Democracy — which would have been the greatest threat to the junta — is boycotting the poll on grounds that the rules are unfair.
The party has subsequently been disbanded by the ruling generals, and no other opposition group has managed to garner the same level of support and recognition among the public.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Despite the continued silence of state-run media on the reported resignations of top military officials in the Burmese military leadership, almost all the important positions in the army including that of its supremo, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, were filled by a new generation of army officers.
According to a military memo obtained by The Irrawaddy on Monday, Lt-Gen Myint Aung, the army’s adjutant general, becomes the commander in chief while Lt-Gen Ko Ko, head of Chief of Bureau of Special Operation 3, who is reputed to be the nephew of Than Shwe’s wife, Kyaing Kyaing, becomes the deputy commander-in-chief.
General Thura Shwe Mann, the regime’s No.3 position as joint chief of staff, goes to Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, former Chief of the Bureau of Special Operation 2. Five positions in the Bureau of Specials Operations, which serves as the third tier in the Burmese army leadership, were also taken by five former regional commanders.
While Rangoon’s former regional commander, Maj-Gen Win Myint, becomes the Military Appointment General, Maj-Gen Kyaw Swe, the former commander of Southwest Regional Command, fills the position of Lt-Gen Ye Myint, former Chief of Military Affairs Security who was the regime’s negotiator with the cease-fire armed ethnic groups.
Also, 15 military officers were promoted to the posts of regional commanders, the powerful ranking commander in each respective region.
Brig-Gen Maung Maung Aye, the former commandant of the General Staff College, becomes the commander of the Naypidaw command, and Brig-Gen Tun Than becomes the new regional commander for Rangoon.
According to military sources, all new officers are close to Than Shwe and are below the age of sixty—the maximum age for serving military and government officials in Burma.
It is assumed that Than Shwe remains as the head of government and will become president in the future government and that other retired officers would join the junta’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, paving the way for the former senior military personnel to be elected as civilian representatives in the new government.
This is in addition to the fact that the constitution already guarantees the military a quarter of the seats in the parliament.
Below is an updated list of promotions:
The Appointment Order of the Tatmadaw on August 27, 2010
Commander in Chief: Lt-Gen Thura Myint Aung (DSA 18)
Deputy Commander in Chief, Lt-Gen Ko Ko (DSA 19)
Joint Chief of Staff (Army, Navy, Air Force) (Gen Shwe Mann’s former position): Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing (DSA 19, former BSO 2 chief)
Adjutant General (Lt-Gen Thura Myint Aung’s former position): Lt-Gen Khin Zaw Oo (former Costal Regional Commander)
Quartermaster General (Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo’s former position): Maj-Gen Wai Lwin (DSA 19, former Naypyidaw Regional Commander)
Military Affaris Security Chief (Lt-Gen Ye Myint’s former position): Maj-Gen Kyaw Swe (DSA 22, former Southwestern Regional Commander)
Military Ordnance Chief (Lt-Gen Tin Aye’s former position): Maj-Gen Thein Htay
Chief of Bureau of Special Operations (BSO) 1 (Lt-Gen Thar Aye’s former position): Maj-Gen Myint Soe (former northwestern regional commander)
BSO 2 Chief (Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing’s former position): Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut (DSA 20) (former northeastern regional commander)
BSO 3 Chief (Lt-Gen Ko Ko’s former position): Maj-Gen Hla Min (DSA 22) (Former southern regional commander)
BSO 4 Chief (Lt-Gen Khin Zaw’s former position): Maj-Gen Thet Naing Win (DSA 20) (former southeastern regional commander)
BSO 5 Chief (Lt-Gen Myint Swe’s former position): Maj-Gen Tin Ngwe (former central regional commander)
BSO 6 Chief (Lt-Gen Ohn Myint’s former position): Maj-Gen Soe Win (DSA 22) (former northern regional commander)
Military Operation Chief (Lt-Gen Maung Shein’s position): Maj-Gen Kyaw Phyo (former triangle regional commander)
Air Defense Chief (Lt-Gen Myint Hlaing’s former position): Maj-Gen Sein Win
Military Appointment General (Lt-Gen San Sint’s former position): Maj-Gen Win Myint (DSA 20)
Military Inspector General (Lt-Gen Thein Htike’s position): Maj-Gen Thaung Aye (DSA 20) (former western regional commander)
Military Judge General (Lt-Gen Soe Maung’s former position): Maj-Gen Yar Pyae (DSA 22, former eastern regional commander)
Military Training Chief: Lt-Gen Hla Htay Win remains in the same position.
Chief of Provost Martial (Military Police): Brig-Gen Than Htut (former light infantry division (LID) 11 commander)
Commandant of the National Defense College: Brig-Gen Hla Myint Shwe
Commandant of the Defense Services Technology Institute: Col Nyo Saw
Commandant of the Defense Services Academy (DSA): Col Myat Tun Oo
Commandant of the Defense Services Medical Institute: Col Ko Ko Naing
Regional Military Commands
Commander of Northern Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Zayar Aung (DSA 23)
Commander of Northeastern Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Aung Kyaw Zaw (DSA 24, former commander of LID 33)
Commander of Triangle Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Than Tun Oo (DSA 24, former MOC 14 commander)
Commander of Eastern Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen San Oo (DSA 24)
Commander of Southeastern Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Tun Nay Lin
Commander of Coastal Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Khin Maung Htay
Commander of Rangoon Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Tun Than (DSA 24, former LID 77 commander)
Commander of Northeastern Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Tin Maung Win (former LID 22 commander)
Commander of Western Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Soe Thein (DSA 24, former MOC 9 commander)
Commander of Northwestern Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Soe Lwin (former MOC 3 commander)
Commander of Southern Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Soe Htut (former LID 88 commander)
Commander of Central Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Ye Aung
Commander of Naypyidaw Regional Military Command: Brig-Gen Maung Maung Aye (former MOC 6 commander)
Military Operation Commands (MOC)
Commander of MOC 1: Col Aung Ye Win
Commander of MOC 3: Col Myat Kyaw
Commander of MOC 7: Col Lu Aye
Commander of MOC 8: Col Ye Naing Myo
Commander of MOC 12: Col Naing Win
Commander of MOC 14: Col Tin Aung Chit
Commander of MOC 17: Col Tint Swe
Light Infantry Divisions (LID)
Commander of LID 11: Col Tat Lin Ohn
Commander of LID 22: Col Htin Paw Tun
Commander of LID 33: Col Aung Soe
Commander of LID 88: Col Tun Tun Naung
Commander of LID 101: Col Min Naing
Monday, August 30, 2010 Leading members of the junta-controlled Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association (MWJA) will run as candidates in the general election on Nov. 7, according to journalists in Rangoon.
MWJA chairman Tin Kha, vice-chairman (1) Dr. Tin Htun Oo and central committee members Aung Nyein and Hla Htun will run in the election. They resigned from the MWJA on Aug. 27 to focus on their political campaigns.
Vice chairman (2) Tin Hlaing, the writer also known as Saw Chit, was appointed temporary chairman of the MWJA.
Speaking anonymously with The Irrawaddy on Monday, an MWJA official said, “Those who resigned will campaign as independents. Dr. Tin Htun Oo will run in Pazun Taung Township [in Rangoon].”
Sources believe that though Dr. Tin Htun Oo has no interest in politics, he was forced to run in the election by Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, who reportedly knows him well.
A source close to Tin Htun Oo said: “Dr. Tin Htun Oo is not interested in politics and doesn’t want to run in the election. Kyaw Hsan reportedly asked him to run and it seems he dared not refuse.”
The military government have ordered businessmen, retired government officials and generals to run in the Nov. 7 election, the first election in 20 years.
Journalist sources also said Tin Lin, a journalist working at the Rangoon-based weekly The Voice, reportedly planned to run in the election.
The sources said that Tin Lin will receive financial support from Nay Win Maung, the founder of The Voice who has close ties with senior Burmese military officials.
Nay Win Maung belongs to the so-called “Third Force” in Burma—a group founded by businessmen, scholars and elites that opposes sanctions and advocates engagement and a business-friendly policy with the junta.
Tin Lin’s resignation from The Voice has not been officially announced, but his name did not appear in the journal’s staff list in the Aug. 30 edition.
“The [military] authorities give all the orders,” said one Rangoon-based editor, “The journalists’ code of ethics is on paper only.”
The Irrawaddy – Opinion: Junta’s Strategic Election Moves
By HTET AUNG – Monday, August 30, 2010
The candidate nomination period for Burma’s 2010 election closed on Monday. The deadline for candidates who want to withdraw their application is September 3, according to the timetable set by Election Commission.
Although Monday was the deadline for candidate nominations, it can also be translated as the deadline for the registration for new political parties as well, because no party can exist without fielding at least three candidates in the election, according to Article 16 of the Political Party Registration bylaw.
Out of 47 new and existing political parties which submitted their registration applications to the EC, 42 parties were approved as of Sept. 30. Five parties, including three Kachin parties, have been rejected because their party registration had not been approved by the EC within the time limit.
Regarding the case of the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) led by Dr Tu Ja, a former vice-chairman of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the EC repeatedly told KSPP leaders to continue their endeavors, and it never gave clear-cut answers when party officials went to Naypyidaw to question their lack of approval.
This follows the EC pattern of highhandedly exploiting the pre-election steps to create barriers for opposition political parties and to favor the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) at each step.
The EC failed to allow sufficient time for political parties to carry out all the necessary steps, but instead compressed the time to be able to hold the election on Nov. 7, a week ahead of the release of democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Nov. 14.
Also, the EC could have issued a timetable of pre-election steps in March, but it failed to do so intentionally so as not to allow the parties to get access to the right information and enough time to prepare the required documents.
Now, the junta has a fairly accurate way to predict the election on Nov. 7 by analyzing the candidate nomination lists for all the parties. The USDP plans to contest in all constituencies in the national and regional parliaments. The democratic opposition parties will field less than one hundred candidates each.
Meanwhile, the military carried out a major reshuffle last week, another major step leading to the resignation of many high-level generals who will seek seats in parliament. It was designed to be completed before the deadline for candidate registration. In April, the entire cabinet led by a former Gen Thein Sein also resigned to form the USDP.
These well-planned moves which have occurred since the promulgation of the electoral laws in March were strategically important for Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his generals to retain their grip on power in the post-election political structure of the country.
The people of Burma are not witnessing a transition from a military to civilian administration, but a transition within the military to form a pseudo-civilian branch of former military officers who will play a dual-function role to support the military in the new parliament.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010 00:27 Phanida
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Junta military security and police this morning seized a year’s supply of medicines from a Kachin rebel motorboat docked on the Irrawaddy River in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina, the boat’s skipper said.
The seizure comes amid heightened tensions between the ethnic peoples of the northern Burmese state led by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the Burma’s ruling military junta, which is raising the ante over the KIO’s continued rejection of the order for it to bring its Kachin Independence Army (KIA) under junta command within the Border Guard Force (BGF) by September 1.
Adding to the strain, the KIA were gearing up for war on Friday while a majority of participants at a Kachin congress again rejected disarming despite a junta threat to end the ceasefire between the two sides, spokesmen said.
Analysts said the medicine seizures were designed to apply more pressure on the KIO.
Valued at an estimated 1.6 million kyat (about US$1,600), the drugs were confiscated by Military Affairs Security officials and officers from Police Station No.1 from the boat owned by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) as it was moored at Kuthu Pier at about 9 a.m., the skipper said.
Kachin Independence Army (KIA) doctor Yaw Han had bought the drugs from the Saunghayman pharmacy in Myitkyina for the clinic at Htainnan village in Putao District where the KIA’s 7th Battalion was based, he said.
“We used to carry rice, cooking oil, salt, medicine and food. I don’t know why they confiscated the medicines this time,” the skipper said on condition of anonymity. “The authorities also warned us that they would arrest the boat’s owner and skipper next time, if they found medicines were carried.”
Yaw Han told the authorities he and the villagers had difficulty getting to Myitkyina from the village, which was why he had bought enough medicines for a year. The Military Affairs Security officers and police replied that they had confiscated the medicines in accord with orders from their superiors – that the Kachin were banned from carrying any medicine or food (on the river).
The confiscated medicines locked up at Myitkyina Police Station No. 1. The authorities told the KIO that they would return the medicines only if they received orders to that effect, sources said.
KIO leaders asked the junta why the medicines had been confiscated, but the junta had failed to reply.
Friday, 27 August 2010 14:28 Salai Han Thar San
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Attempting to strengthen their collective position as the November polling date nears, three Rangoon-based political parties have formed a political alliance, according to party sources.
The Union of Myanmar Federation of National Politics (UMFNP), 88 Generation Student Youths (Union of Myanmar) and Myanmar Democracy Congress Party (MDCP) on August 21 agreed that only one candidate from the three parties should contest in each constituency.
“Our three parties formed a political alliance for the forthcoming election. If one party of our alliance contests in a constituency, the other two parties will not contest in that constituency,” UMFNP chairman Aye Lwin told Mizzima.
On August 21, the Myanmar Democracy Congress Party invited 24 Rangoon-based political parties to attend a meeting to form a political alliance and to allocate the constituencies for each party to contest.
However, veteran Shan politician Shwe Ohn passed away on the same day, leaving only the three parties in alliance to attend the proceedings.
One hundred to 150 candidates from the political alliance will contest in constituencies throughout Rangoon, Pegu (Bago), Irrawaddy, Mandalay, Magway and Sagaing Divisions and Chin State, UMFNP chairman Aye Lwin said. At least 50 of the 150 candidates will be from Aye Lwin’s UMFNP party.
“Every political party is warmly welcomed to join our political alliance, even if they have different policies. We want to apportion the constituencies for the parties in alliance to avoid competing with each other,” he explained.
Similarly, the Democratic Party (Myanmar), National Democratic Force (NDF), Union Democracy Party (UDP), Rakhine Nationals Development Party (RNDP) and Shan Nationals Democratic Party (SNDP) met in Rangoon with the intention of forming a similar alliance in early July.
However, although the five parties met, being busy with trying to collect the required number of party members (1,000) and preparing to submit candidate lists within 16 days, they could not discuss the subject of a political alliance, according UDP Vice-Chairman No. (1) Htay.
Unless political parties form an alliance to apportion constituencies for candidacy, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will gain further advantages, a veteran journalist in Rangoon commented.
“If more than one pro-democracy political party contests in the same constituency, the USDP will take advantage. For instance, if both the Democratic Party (Myanmar) and NDF contest in the same constituency, the votes of the pro-democracy voters will be scattered between the two parties. If so, the junta-backed USDP will win easily in that constituency. If only one pro-democracy party contests in a same constituency, there will be a greater chance of victory,” he furthered.
NDF leader Khin Maung Swe said that his party would cooperate with other pro-democracy parties to avoid contesting in the same constituencies. He added that his party would not contest in constituencies where the UDP will contest.
“If pro-democracy parties clash with each other in the same constituencies, not only the parties but also the people will lose. So, the pro-democracy parties must negotiate with each other to allot constituencies,” he said.
Among the 47 political parties that have applied for registration, the electoral commission has approved 42, while 26 have submitted lists of party members, according to the August 25 issue of the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar.
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 30 August 2010
Up to 1000 oil workers protesting against alleged duping by an oil company in northwestern Burma last week were attacked by riot police, with two left seriously injured.
The protests had been going on since 14 August when workers at the Cherry Yoma oilfield close to Sagaing division’s Kalay township complained they were being ripped off by the company, whose name has not been revealed.
Both riot police and company-run security were called by the company’s owner on 25 August to disperse the crowd.
“The company’s security arrived at the site and started attacking the protesters apparently to discourage more people from joining them,” said a Kalay local. “The protesters were punched, kicked and beaten up with sticks.
“Two people had their eyes badly injured and also went deaf. The protesters and their leaders fled the scene and their camps and belongings were destroyed.”
The oilfield in question was being hand-dug by locals under the contract of a cooperative company formed by business tycoons thought to be close to the Burmese government.
Burma’s oil capacity is low, and its refining capabilities poor: in terms of proven oil reserves it ranks 77 in the world, and is a net importer. But a small sector for informal diggers has emerged, who collect and sell to companies by the barrel.
The Kalay local said that the protests were sparked by the company’s decision to increase the size of barrels whilst maintaining the same buying price.
“The locals have to give the company an extra eight gallons for every barrel they sell, and a further two bottles for each eight gallons. They are only giving 50,000 kyat [US$50] per barrel.”
The company has apparently upped to price of purchase since the protests, but the local said that tension between the company and workers has remained.
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS
Published: 30 August 2010
Burma’s two biggest pro-democracy parties running in the upcoming election said Monday they had managed to field just a tenth of the number of candidates standing for the main pro-junta parties.
As Monday’s deadline for registering candidates arrived, the government’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told AFP it would put forward more than 1,000 candidates in the country’s first poll in 20 years.
And the pro-junta National Unity Party said it would have more than 990 candidates. “So we think the USDP will be our main rival,” said spokesman Han Shwe.
But the National Democratic Force (NDF) and the Democratic Party (Myanmar), the largest pro-democracy groups, said they would field only about 200 candidates between them for the 7 November vote for some 1,200 national and regional seats.
More than 40 political parties have been given permission to stand in the polls, but some have expressed concerns over restrictions, including financial and campaigning constraints, intimidation of members and a tight timetable to register election hopefuls.
Thu Wai, chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said it would put forward about 60 candidates.
“We are still waiting for the candidate list from the regions, but we will not get as many as we estimated lately,” he said.
NDF chairman Than Nyein said the party, which is made up of former members of detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, had about 140 candidates
The polls have been widely dismissed by the West as a charade to entrench military power. The junta recently conducted a major reshuffle within military ranks and several top members retired to contest the elections as USDP members.
A quarter of the legislature is reserved for serving military, in addition to army retirees who win positions as junta-backed civilians.
The government-favoured USDP has merged with the Union Solidarity and Development Association, a rich pro-junta group with up to 27 million members, including civil servants compelled to join for the good of their careers.
Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has been detained for much of the past 20 years, won the country’s last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied office by the junta.
She is barred from running this year because she is a serving prisoner and her National League for Democracy – which would have been the greatest threat to the junta – is boycotting the poll on grounds that the rules are unfair. The party has subsequently been disbanded by the ruling generals.
By PETER AUNG
Published: 30 August 2010
A fiery dispute has erupted between two prominent Burmese political parties over a deal made to share constituencies for elections in two months.
The deal would have seen the National Democratic Force (NDF) and the Diversity and Peace Party (DPP) share constituencies in an effort to avoid overlapping of candidates, as well as preventing the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) from dominating the elections.
But, according to the DPP, the deal has soured after the opposition NDF reneged on the pledge and instead “expanded its territories”.
“The NDF previously told us to fill in the [constituencies] they couldn’t cover so the USDP won’t get a chance to dominate all the constituencies in the country,” said Nay Myo Wei, general secretary of the DPP. “But later, [the NDF] has expanded its territories [into the DPP's areas]. They called themselves our ally yet they broke the promise.”
He added that the deal was an attempt to “bring down centralism” in Burma, which has been under military rule for nearly 50 years.
The NDF was formed in May from senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which had been Burma’s most prominent opposition party prior to its dissolution earlier this year.
The party is looking to contest around 140 seats in the 330-seat parliament, while the Diversity and Peace Party will challenge for eight.
Several parties have already warned that high registration fees and repressive election laws could force them to significantly reduce the number of candidates put forward.
The NDF has already announced that its leader, Khin Maung Swe, will not be appealing a ban on him contesting the elections, and so has withdrawn – as a former NLD MP-elect who spent 15 years in prison, he is prohibited from running.
Dr Than Nyein, chairman of the NDF, said that there had been “no such agreement apart from an attempt to make things convenient between each other”.
“You can think for yourself whether it would be appropriate to ask other parties to pull out from constituencies just because your party wants to compete for those places,” he said, adding that the DPP is “not the only democratic party participating in the elections”.