BURMA RELATED NEWS – OCTOBER 22, 2010
Oct 23rd, 2010
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 21, 6:46 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Myanmar appealed Thursday to its military rulers “to send a strong signal” to the world that it will hold a genuine election, by releasing democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and almost 2,100 political prisoners.
U.N. envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana cast more doubt on the legitimacy of the ruling junta’s planned Nov. 7 election, the first in two decades.
“I believe that the Myanmar government needs to send a strong signal to the international community about its commitment to hold genuine elections. An unconditional and immediate release of prisoners of conscience would be such a signal,” said Quintana, an Argentine lawyer.
A day earlier, he presented his annual report to the U.N. General Assembly about his latest efforts.
In the report, Quintana noted that more than 130 political prisoners were released in September 2009, two months after he was last allowed to visit the nation formerly known as Burma.
But he told reporters Thursday that none have been let go since then, and he reiterated U.N. demands that all be freed and allowed to take part in the election.
“It is clear that the process remains deeply flawed. Freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association, have been further restricted,” said Quintana, who has been the special human rights investigator for the U.N. in Myanmar since May 2008.
“There has been no release of prisoners of conscience. I repeat: Conditions for genuine elections are limited under the current circumstances. The potential for these elections to bring meaningful change and improvement to the human rights situation in Myanmar remains uncertain,” he said.
Suu Kyi’s lawyers said Thursday that Myanmar’s highest court has agreed to hear a final appeal to release her from house arrest. A hearing in the case has been scheduled for October 29 in the junta’s new capital, Naypyitaw. She has previously lost two appeals.
Her house arrest is due to expire soon anyway, but only on Nov. 13, a week after the election.
The ruling junta has insisted the election will be a major step toward democracy. Government critics have called the upcoming elections a sham designed to cement nearly 50 years of military rule.
A U.N. diplomat who follows Myanmar closely said there were no plans for any action by members of the Security Council, the U.N.’s most powerful arm, before the election. The diplomat said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, had wisely declined an invitation by the ruling junta to visit soon after the election.
Myanmar is not on the council’s official agenda. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the diplomacy toward the isolated Asian nation, said such a visit would have risked validating an electoral process which is going to be flawed.
“I think there’s more or less a resignation on the part of the international community that the November elections will go ahead probably in the framework that they’re set in,” Nicholas Haysom, Ban’s political affairs director, said last month. “But I think there’s also an increasing focus on what to do after the elections. I think the international community is taking stock. Developments after the elections may offer real opportunities for constructive engagement, or may not — may be more of the same.”
A so-called Friends of Myanmar group has been meeting at the U.N. that includes about 15 countries, including Myanmar’s neighbors, interested Asian and European nations, and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members: the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France.
Myanmar told other nations last month during the U.N. General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting that it is striving to ensure its first elections in two decades are “free and fair.”
He spoke a day after foreign ministers from key nations warned the military junta that the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners is “essential” for Nov. 7 elections to be seen as credible. The 65-year-old Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has been held by the junta under house arrest for 18 years in Yangon, formerly Rangoon.
Suu Kyi led the now-disbanded National League for Democracy party amid massive pro-democracy protests in August 1988 and officially registered it the next month after the demonstrations were violently suppressed by the junta.
The party won 1990 elections by a landslide, but the results were not recognized by the military, which took power in 1962 when the country was known as Burma.
Fri Oct 22, 12:47 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s ruling junta staged a lavish welcoming ceremony for the country’s fifth white elephant captured in recent years as it arrived in the capital, state media reported Friday.
The festivities Thursday coincided with the unveiling of a new national flag and a new national name — going from “Union of Myanmar” to “Republic of the Union of Myanmar” — two weeks before an election that the government calls a major step in a transition to democracy but critics say is a sham.
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 18-year-old elephant, captured in jungle in northwestern Rakhine state last month, was greeted by a host of senior leaders upon its arrival Thursday in Naypyitaw.
The 7-foot-1 inch (2.34-meter)-tall elephant was sprinkled with scented water during a ceremony at the Uppatasanti Pagoda, a replica of the famed Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the former capital and largest city in Myanmar.
The white elephant circled the pagoda clockwise before joining the country’s fourth white elephant at the elephant enclosure at the eastern corner of the pagoda, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
Officials performed a house warming ceremony, feeding ceremony, naming ceremony and chanted prayers for its welfare and safety.
The elephants are not necessarily white. They can look similar to other elephants except for certain features like fair eyelashes and toenails, light-colored hair or a reddish hue to the skin.
The two elephants in Naypyitaw look unusually white.
The other three elephants captured and held in captivity in Myanmar in recent years are kept at a special park in Yangon, where they live in an enclosure with spiraled pavilions, a manmade waterfall, ponds and trees.
Fri, Oct 22, 2010
YANGON, MYANMAR (AFP) – Myanmar state media on Friday hailed the discovery of a fifth white elephant, considered a symbol of good fortune, ahead of elections dismissed by critics as a charade to legitimise military rule.
The female pachyderm named Nandawady was sprinkled with holy water in a ceremony that coincided with Thursday’s unveiling of the country’s new flag.
Watched by senior officials from the ruling junta, the 18-year-old elephant was led around Naypyidaw’s Uppatasanti pagoda, before retiring to her new home with another white elephant, the New Light of Myanmar said.
The elephant, which was captured on September 23 in the western coastal region of Rakhine State, is one of several now being kept by the regime, with two held in the capital Naypyidaw and a three in the main city of Yangon.
Despite their name, the revered creatures are not actually white but have certain distinctive features including a pinkish complexion.
State media have said the capture of a white elephant is a sign there will be a successful “democratic transition” in the November 7 elections, the first in 20 years for the military-run country.
The vote, which will not include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party, has been dismissed by critics as a sham aimed at putting a civilian cloak over military rule.
The appearance of another white elephant just as the country made the surprise launch of its new flag was noted by residents.
“We cannot know whether the two events were coincidence or not,” a 45-year-old Yangon man told AFP.
Kings and leaders in the predominantly Buddhist nation have traditionally treasured white elephants, whose rare appearances in the country are believed to herald good fortune, including power and political change.
Two private planes for Myanmar’s Senior General Than Shwe and four other top leaders were named “White Elephant” this year on the advice of astrologers, according to the Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based magazine on Myanmar.
Published: Oct. 21, 2010 at 11:55 PM
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 21 (UPI) — Myanmar’s process for its first national elections in two decades is deeply flawed, an independent United Nations human rights expert said Thursday.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, told reporters in New York “conditions for the general elections are limited under the current circumstances,” casting doubt on their potential “to bring meaningful change.”
A day earlier, he had reported to the United Nations that freedom of expression and assembly have been further restricted through the implementation of election laws, while party registration requirements and the high cost of registering candidates have hampered parties not backed by the government.
“It is clear that the process has not been inclusive,” Quintana said in a release.
“I believe that the Myanmar government needs to send a strong signal to the international community about its commitment to hold genuine elections, and the unconditional and immediate release of prisoners of conscience would be such a signal.”
Myanmar’s military government said Monday it will not let foreign media cover next month’s election. Only diplomats and representatives of U.N. organizations based in the country can observe the Nov. 7 vote, election commission Chairman Thein Soe told Radio France Internationale.
Fri Oct 22, 9:09 am ET SINGAPORE (AFP) – Struggling flag carrier Myanmar Airways International is hopeful that next month’s elections will usher in a new era of growth for the country’s tourism sector, a senior executive said Friday.
“We are hoping that after the elections, the country will be opened up and we believe there will be more tourists coming in,” Ye Jhan, the airline’s assistant general manager, said at an aviation forum in Singapore.
“Once we have a new government and new policies, there will be (a) big increase in tourist arrivals… because the country has a lot of opportunities to develop tourism,” he said.
The November 7 election is the country’s first in 20 years but it has come under strong criticism from Western governments and human rights campaigners who say it is a sham meant to entrench the military’s grip on power.
But Jhan told AFP on the sidelines of the forum that he was confident the new government will encourage tourism “because tourism revenues are quite good for us.”
Jhan said more than 201,000 tourists had visited the country so far this year, compared with more than 227,000 tourists for all of 2009.
He said Myanmar Airways, like other enterprises in the country, had suffered because of international sanctions imposed mostly by Western governments.
Unlike other airlines in Asia, the flag carrier has to make do with limited resources, Jhan told delegates at Aviation Outlook Asia.
The airline is “barely managing to keep our heads above the water,” he said.
“We are still struggling and we need significant improvements in our capital funding… We are running our business with less than 20 million dollars only.”
This is considerably less than other airlines that easily have at least five times that amount, Jhan said.
“To be a reputable international airline, that’s our new vision,” said Jhan. “We hope we can develop ourselves within a few years with the support from the political situation… When (the) new government comes, I think we will have support from other countries.”
Jhan said the airline was 20 percent state-owned.
Updated October 22, 2010 21:12:48
With elections in Burma just over two weeks away, the United Nations general assembly has been hearing yet another grim report on the state of human rights in the country and the prospects for a genuine poll. After three visits to Burma, including access to some political prisoners, the UN’s special rapporteur, Tomas Ojea Quintana, has expressed disappointment that despite a year of preparations the election process remains deeply flawed. Mr Quintana has also used the release of his report to try to push his proposal for an international commission of inquiry into Burma, but some countries are against the idea.
Presenter: Linda Mottram, Canberra correspondent
Speaker: Tomas Ojea Quintana, special rapporteur on Burma and independent expert on human rights, New York
Listen:(http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/stories/m1932825.asx)
QUINTANA: This is a new development after 40 years of military government and so there are some people inside the country who decided to participate and I think that that’s a good sign. All the people inside the country want real change and some of these people believe that the holding of this election will bring some change and that has to be recognised.
MOTTRAM: So, the argument that some change is perhaps better than none?
QUINTANA: Yes. The thing is how this process towards democracy is being developed. If basic fundamental human rights in this process towards democracy, which of course includes these elections, but also in the national reconciliation for example, then as I say the prospective of real change and positive change in my opinion remain uncertain. I cannot anticipate the future and say that everything will be wrong, but I really believe at this moment this is uncertain, we really don’t know what will happen.
MOTTRAM: You mention in the report that where the government in Myanmar is not shouldering responsibility for addressing the human rights situation, it is the international community’s responsibility. Has the international community taken that responsibility, have all players done what they can do you think?
QUINTANA: Today, I presented my report to the UN’s general assembly and 22 states participated, including Australia, and the discussions were about precisely this issue. How can Myanmar face justice and accountability right now as part of the process towards democracy. One of my proposals is to think about a commission of inquiry, not as a means to accuse, but as a means to somehow help the government of Myanmar to build justice and accountability. At this moment, however, the government has not shown any signs in respect to their obligation to pursue justice and accountability.
MOTTRAM: We’ve had reports that there is a growing support for your suggestion of a commission of inquiry. Is it your sense that it may come about?
QUINTANA: The discussions were very, very complex and some states openly support the idea of dealing with justice and accountability through a body like a commission of inquiry, some of course do not accept that. The most important thing at the moment in my opinion as a special rapporteur for Myanmar is that this issue is discussed.
MOTTRAM: Can I ask you which states are being an obstacle?
QUINTANA: Many states like China and also Russia, for example, have expressed [that they do not accept] a commission of inquiry, unless it’s as a closed proposal. The discussions today were about an open proposal. Let’s discuss this commission of inquiry as a proposal, but there can be other proposals, the general assembly can even call on the office of the secretary general to help on this. So I really believe that the United Nations members should be united in a common message in respect to justice and accountability. If they consider this is not the time to discuss deeply the possibility of a commission of inquiry, then that will be their decision. But what is important again is that this issue should be on the table in the context of the elections, particularly if there is a new government in Myanmar.
BBC News – UN casts doubt over Burma election
By Barbara Plett BBC UN correspondent
The United Nations human rights envoy to Burma has cast more doubt on the legitimacy of next month’s elections.
In a report, Tomas Ojea Quintana said conditions for genuine elections were limited, with election laws restricting freedom of expression and assembly.
He called on the military government to release more than 2,000 political prisoners, including the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military government said the report was based on fabricated information.
The polls will be held on 7 November. Ms Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the years since then under house arrest. The NLD was forced to disband earlier this year after it said it would boycott the elections because of laws favouring the military.
‘Negative perspective’
These elections are meant to be part of an orderly transition from military rule to democracy but, the UN envoy said, the process remains deeply flawed.
He said election laws had further tightened long standing restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly, and listed obstacles faced by political parties which were not backed by the government.
Burma’s military government rejected the report, saying it prejudged the election from a negative perspective.
Mr Ojea Quintana also said justice and accountability were essential for the transition that Burma was making.
He stood by his proposal for a commission of enquiry into possible war crimes carried out by the military rulers, despite opposition from some UN member states who see such a move as counter-productive.
Burma is not on the Security Council agenda, and a UN diplomat said there are no immediate plans for any visits by UN officials to avoid the risk of appearing to endorse the election process.
Officials at the UN headquarters in New York have said they are waiting to see whether there will be opportunities for constructive engagement after the poll.
By the CNN Wire Staff
October 22, 2010 10:52 a.m. EDT
(CNN) — An overpowering tropical cyclone that intensified rapidly has made landfall in western Myanmar, CNN meteorologists said Friday.
Tropical Cyclone Giri strengthened further to 155 miles per hour just before landfall near Sittwe, Myanmar, making the storm equal to a super typhoon in the Western Pacific and a borderline category 4/5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale used in the Atlantic.
It’s currently stronger than Tropical Cyclone Nargis was when it made landfall in May 2008, killing more than 100,000 people in southern Myanmar, the meteorologists said.
Giri, which is currently making landfall near the city of Sittwe, strengthened from 52 to 144 miles per hour over the last 24 hours.
State-run media in Myanmar said cyclone-spawned squalls are expected and ships and trawlers are being warned.
The Irrawaddy, an opposition newspaper, said the cyclone struck land near Kyaukphyu, a large island in western Myanmar, and severed phone links.
Citing Yangon residents, the newspaper said state-controlled radio and TV broadcast constant warnings advising people to keep away from electricity poles and tall trees and to believe official reports and not rumors about the storm.
Contact: Rob Gutro
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
443-858-1779
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
EurekAlert! – Category 4 Cyclone Giri hits Burma, NASA satellite sees heavy rainfall Tropical Storm 04B grew quickly into powerful Cyclone Giri and was making landfall in Burma today as a powerful Category Four Cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale. NASA’s TRMM satellite noticed that the storm contained some heavy rainfall in addition to the powerful winds.
Giri is the second tropical cyclone of 2010 to form in the Bay of Bengal and was seen by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Cyclone Giri was seen clearly by the TRMM satellite twice on Oct. 21. The first good view was at 1534 UTC (11:34 a.m. EDT) when TRMM data showed a very well organized storm with heavy rainfall south of Giri’s partially formed eye. The heaviest rainfall was falling at about 2 inches per hour, south of Giri’s eye. The rainfall analysis was done at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
The second TRMM orbit at 2347 UTC (7:47 p.m. EDT) captured Giri’s rainfall when the wind speeds had increased to 85 knots (98 mph) making it a category two tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The second TRMM image showed that Giri had developed a closed eye surrounded by powerful thunderstorms dropping heavy rainfall. Cyclone Giri then intensified to a category four tropical cyclone with wind speeds estimated at 125 knots (~144mph) before striking Burma’s west coast in the middle of the morning.
On Oct. 22 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) Cyclone Giri had maximum sustained winds near 135 knots (155 mph) and was weakening as it continued to move inland. Giri’s center was about 180 nautical miles south-southeast of Chittagong, Bangladesh near 20.1 North and 93.7 East. It was moving north-northeast at 10 mph.
Satellite data also indicated that as Giri was making landfall, that it had a well-defined eye about 20 nautical miles wide. High waves, coastal erosion, severe winds of Category four hurricane force and very heavy rainfall are all being experienced along coastal areas of Hunters Bay and Combermere Bay. As Giri moves inland over the rugged terrain of Myanmar it will rapidly weaken and drop large amounts of rain.
Published on October 22, 2010
‘Health emergency’ caused by block on humanitarian aid shows that junta is not about to release iron grip on citizens
Burma’s election commission chairman, Thien Soe, has dismissed the need for foreign monitors during next month’s general election, saying “our country has a lot of experience in elections”. One wonders what planet Thien Soe has been living on these past few decades.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok last week the report “Diagnosis: Critical” said that more than half of the deaths in violence-ravaged eastern Burma are being caused by treatable illnesses, with the junta blocking access to healthcare.
A “chronic health emergency” in the ethnic areas strung along the border with Thailand means that 59 per cent of deaths are preventable, said the report.
The international community has been howling at the Burmese junta for years to open up politically, and the upcoming election, which has been widely billed as a sham, will more or less cement the military’s place in the country’s national politics.
The US State Department has confirmed its earlier statement, saying that they don’t think “these will be credible elections”. At the same time United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly that his patience was wearing thin with the regime in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
“Myanmar’s lack of engagement is deeply frustrating as it not only contradicts its stated policy of cooperation with the UN but also limits my ability to fully implement the mandate entrusted to me by the General Assembly,” he said.
Separately, the special United Nations rapporteur on human rights for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said, “The potential for these elections to bring meaningful change and improvement in the human rights situation remains uncertain.”
Moreover, Quintana’s report called into question the 2008 Burmese constitution, saying it “may impede the government from effectively addressing justice and accountability in the future”.
Echoing leaders from the international community, Quintana called for the release of political prisoners, particularly the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying that this would be an “important step to establish an environment for credible, inclusive elections”.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Suu Kyi’s freedom and the release of hundreds of other political prisoners would be a welcome confidence-building measure from the military junta.
To suggest that the junta does not care at all about its international image would be misleading, however. But it has long been understood that in Burma security comes first, not the well-being of its citizens. Furthermore, it will be the Burmese generals themselves who chart the country’s political future and foreign policy.
After all, this is a country that allows its civilians to bear the consequences of its fight with minority rebels through insufficient investment in healthcare and human rights abuses. The regime’s blockading of access for international humanitarian aid means that the needless deaths will continue.
“The inability of the peoples of eastern Myanmar to enjoy basic rights is killing them,” said Mahidol University human rights expert Sriprapha Petcharamesree in the report.
It is clear that the biggest losers in the junta’s conflicts with ethnic groups are the Burmese people themselves. But there is one player that is coming out ahead – China.
This is not to say that it’s all hugs and kisses between junta and China. Neither side trusts the other, but both realise they need each other. China wants Burma’s raw materials and an access point to the Indian Ocean while the junta needs Beijing’s protection on the international stage, namely in the UN Security Council, as well as the hard currency of its powerful neighbour.
Last year, Burma irked Beijing when it launched an attack on an armed outfit known as the Kokang Chinese, a group that controlled an autonomous region on the Burmese side of the Sino-Burma border. The attack pushed some 37, 0000 refugees, including Chinese citizens, over the border into the province of Yunnan.
Like other armed ethnic rebel groups operating in the Burmese sector of the Golden Triangle, the Kokang had the unofficial backing of the Chinese Communist Party. And although the Communist Party of Burma is a thing of the past, many of these groups, such as the Kokang and the United Wa State Army, continue to enjoy a longstanding friendship with Chinese leaders. This complex interplay of alliances puts pressure on the Burmese regime.
In the final analysis, any political solution for Burma must include an exit strategy for the ruling junta. Scolding them for decades hasn’t worked. It’s time to think differently.
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
Published on October 23, 2010
Asian nations must refuse to choose between China and the United States as their main ally but seek to engage them both and recognise the interdependence of Asia towards the two superpowers, said Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
The United States, despite its economic crisis, remains a major market for Asian goods, said Tay, speaking on Asia and the US at an event organised yesterday by Chulalongkorn University’s American Studies Programme.
“Nobody gets up and shops like the Americans do after Thanksgiving,” said Tay, adding that the US was still a “guarantor of peace” though “not always munificent or neutral”.
On the other hand, Asia’s ascendancy was not guaranteed and there was yet to be consensus within Asia about the new order. “Nobody wants to be No 2 to anybody else,” he said, referring to competing Asian powers Japan, China and India.
“China-Japan rivalry, India-China rivalry isn’t going to be solved any time soon.”
While some Americans talk about a retreat from the international stage as a result of the current economic crisis, Tay said America’s current foreign policy was that of renewed interest in Asia.
On the other hand, Asian nations must recognise “China’s charms and power” such as its dispensing of overseas development assistance to poorer countries in Southeast Asia such as Burma or the growing importance of Chinese tourists.
“Asia is becoming increasingly confident. But we have been here before. There’s a sense that China can do more, say more, and run the world,” Tay said. However, the United States was also finding it difficult to see itself in a multilateral way, he said, adding that the notion of a post-America world was not acceptable to many Americans.
In his latest book, published this year, “Asia Alone: The Dangerous Post-Crisis Divide from America”, Tay argues that while the relationship between the United States and Asia is changing and must necessarily change, “leaders, policy-makers, companies and citizens on both sides must help bridge the divide that would otherwise emerge and find a new balance”.
Songsak Saicheau, bureau chief of the Office of Policy and Planning under the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, said Asia and the United States were unlikely to drift apart, as the two regions needed each other. The idea of Asia going alone was not at all assured, as there was no Asian consensus emerging yet.
English.news.cn 2010-10-22 18:13:57
YANGON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) — Myanmar’s jade production is up sharply in the first four months of the fiscal year 2010-11, with the output nearest to that of the whole 2009-10 fiscal year, a local weekly reported in this week’s issue.
Myanmar produced 21,599 tons of jade from April to July of 2010- 11 fiscal year, which approached the quantity of 25,795 tons extracted in 2009-10, the Biweekly Eleven News said.
The fiscal year 2008-09 is so far leading highest production rate of jade with 32,921 tons.
Myanmar importers estimated that jade stone production of the fiscal year 2010-11 could exceed 2008-09.
At present, the local gems emporiums proved that the demand of the jade has increased dramatically this year.
Meanwhile, over 600 tons of jade stone, which was unearthed from Lone Khin area in Pha-Khant township in Kachin state, is to be displayed at the coming mid-year gems emporium to be held in Nay Pyi Taw in November on the basis of competitive bidding.
Myanmar mining authorities had displayed the country’s huge raw 115-ton jade stone, claimed to be the world’s second largest one, at the annual gems emporium in Yangon this year.
Earlier, a 3,000-ton giant jade stone was discovered at a depth of 12 meters underground from Phakant mining area in northernmost Kachin state in 2000 and the stone, measuring 21 meters long, 4.8 meters wide and 10.5 meters high, is said to be the largest one in the world.
Myanmar also claimed that it possesses the world’s largest ruby weighing 21,450 carats, the largest star sapphire weighing 63,000 carats, the biggest peridot weighing 329 carats and the biggest pearl weighing 845 carats.
The government’s Central Statistical Organization revealed that in the fiscal year 2009-10, Myanmar produced over 11.315 million carats of gems which include ruby, sapphire, spinel and peridot, as well as 229,951 mommis (862.3 kilograms) of pearl.
Myanmar, a well-known producer of gems in the world, boasts ruby, diamond, cat’s eye, emerald, topaz, pearl, sapphire, coral and a variety of garnet tinged with yellow.
The Jakarta Post | Fri, 10/22/2010 10:58 AM | World ASEAN would likely suffer if it expelled Myanmar, despite the fact that its defiant military rulers have barred foreign media from covering the Nov. 7 election, experts say.
Chairwoman of the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights at the Habibie Center, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, said Thursday ASEAN should not play hardball against Myanmar or other ASEAN members, when there was no mechanism in the treaty to provide for this.
“We should persuade and encourage Myanmar to be more open,” she said.
When asked if ASEAN should ask for a favor from Myanmar’s closest friends China and India to pressure the restive country, Dewi said neither of them would be willing to do so, and democracy could not be forced from outside. “China is not a democratic country. So, it won’t be willing to press Myanmar,” she said.
“India is also likely unwilling” to do so, but the world’s largest democracy could be asked to promoting democracy and to persuade Myanmar, she said.
University of Indonesia expert Hariyadi Wirawan said expelling Myanmar from ASEAN would only let it fall deeper into China’s orbit.
“If China builds a military base in Myanmar [as a further consequence of expelling Myanmar from the bloc], ASEAN will have no leverage to ask Myanmar to reject China’s move,” he said.
Centre for Strategic and International Studies executive director Rizal Sukma said Indonesia and other ASEAN members should pursue bolder diplomacy against undemocratic Myanmar as human rights abuses in that country had affected others, making the issue no longer local so that ASEAN’s non-interference policy no longer applied.
Millions of Myanmar refugees have fled the restive country because of continuing unrest and landed in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“The refugees leave Myanmar for one reason only: They can no longer bear life in their country,” Rizal said in an article recently.
“ASEAN should explain to the junta that when their people flee oppression and end up in other countries, it becomes a transnational issue.”
It was urgent to explain to the junta the meaning of the provision on “the protection of human rights” in the ASEAN Charter, he said.
“As a country that has received hundreds of refugees from Myanmar, we have the right, and indeed the obligation, to tell the Myanmar junta to stop persecuting their own people,” he told the Indonesian government.
Indonesian Ambassador to ASEAN Ngurah Swajaya refused to comment as the Indonesian government had yet to get formal notification of the ban of foreign observers.
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: October 21, 2010 UNITED NATIONS — With just over two weeks until the first elections in Myanmar in 20 years, a United Nations envoy on Thursday questioned the fairness of the vote.
At the same time, the ruling junta, which has shown itself supremely unconcerned by criticism from the world body, pressed ahead with its military-to-civilian government makeover, unveiling a new flag, name and national anthem at a date and time apparently divined by astrologers.
The fate of the long-detained Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi tends to overshadow any talk of change, and the country’s highest court agreed to hear a final appeal to release her, according to press reports. The generals who run the country annulled the results of the last election, in 1990, when her party triumphed.
Despite the hearing, scheduled for next Friday, speculation on her release has focused on Nov. 13, when her latest term of house arrest is set to expire and the elections will be over. Her absence from the Nov. 7 elections is just one point that Tomás Ojea Quintana, the United Nations human rights envoy for Myanmar, cited in casting doubt on the vote.
“It is clear the process remains deeply flawed,” Mr. Ojea Quintana, an Argentine lawyer, said at a news conference here, noting that freedom of expression and assembly had been further restricted and that more than 2,100 “prisoners of conscience” still languished in prison. Torture is systematic and 144 such prisoners have died in custody since 1988, he said.
“The conditions do not show that these elections will be inclusive, free and fair,” Mr. Ojea Quintana added. “The potential for these elections to bring meaningful change and improvement to the human rights situation in Myanmar remains doubtful.”
Those opposition parties that have agreed to participate complain of harassment and intimidation, Mr. Quintana noted, while some representing ethnic groups have not been approved. Candidates must pay a $500 election fee, a prohibitive sum in a country where the average annual income is $459, he said.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, has failed in his attempts to engage in any kind of dialogue with the government, which even denied his request to meet with its most famous prisoner during his visit in July 2009. He has repeatedly said that the elections will be neither free nor fair unless Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is released.
The government, whose response to Mr. Ojea Quintana was included in his report, condemned it, denying that there were any political prisoners. Earlier this year the senior officers who make up the cabinet all resigned from the military to join a new party, itself formed by the conversion of an old mass social organization.
The November vote is step five in the government’s seven-point transition to democracy, with the convening of Parliament and the election of a president the last two steps. It is basically expected to be the same government, in suits instead of uniforms.
As part of that process, the government pushed through a new Constitution in 2008 that called for fresh national symbols, which were abruptly announced Thursday with no warning.
The new flag sports horizontal stripes of yellow, green and red with a big white star in the middle, the colors standing for solidarity, peace and tranquillity, as well as courage and decisiveness. Similar colors graced the flag during the Japanese occupation, from 1943 to 1945. The country’s new official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, instead of just the Union of Myanmar, news reports said.
Two hallmarks of the military leaders of Myanmar — formerly called Burma — since 1962 have been their isolation and a certain reliance on soothsayers and numerology for major decisions. Government officials nationwide were told that the old flag had to be lowered precisely at 3 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2010, press reports noted. The numbers all add up to nine, considered particularly auspicious in Myanmar.
Sat, 2010-10-23 04:38 — editor
From R. Vasudevan – Reporting from New Delhi
New Delhi, 23 October (Asiantribune.com) :
All eyes are on Myanmar’s Supreme Court which will hear an appeal lodged by detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi against her house arrest on October 29, one of her lawyers said in Yangon.
The appeal by Suu Kyi, figurehead of the fight against military rule in the Southeast Asian country, will be heard in the capital, Naypyitaw, by a panel of five judges, lawyer Kyi Win told the media.
She is due to be released on November 13, six days after the country’s first election in two decades. Suu Kyi was sentenced to house arrest in August last year for allowing an American intruder to stay at her home in contravention of security rules.
The intruder, John Yettaw, said God had sent him to warn her she would be the target of an assassination plot. Speculation has been rife that the regime, rather than honour a pledge to release her, would find another reason to detain her in November to ensure a smooth transition for the government that will emerge from the election.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ruling military changed the country’s flag, national anthem and official name on Thursday, just over two weeks before the country’s first election in 20 years, state media said. The changes were outlined in a new constitution published in 2008 but the government had not announced a date for their introduction.
The country’s new name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, instead of the Union of Myanmar. The military, which has ruled since a 1962 coup, changed the country’s name in English from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, a year after widespread protests against military rule were crushed, and a year before the last election.
That election was won by the party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi but the military ignored the result. Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention.
The new flag has a horizontal band of light yellow at the top, dark green in the centre and red at the bottom, with a white star in the middle. There has been no official explanation as to what the colours or the star represent. Nor has there been any explanation as to why the changes, which include a new state seal, were being made.
Officials in various government departments said they were ordered to change the flags. “We were caught by surprise when we got the order at short notice. There was also an order that the old flags must be burnt,” said one official.
In a strange astrological twist, the order stipulated that the old flag had to be lowered by someone born on a Tuesday and the new flag had to be raised by someone born on a Wednesday. Myanmar’s secretive military rulers, who will retain ultimate power no matter who wins the November 7 parliamentary election, are widely believed to consult astrologers.
Several dozen passers-by watched the formal ceremony to change the flags at Yangon City Hall.
Josephine Whitaker, 21 October 2010
China attempts to block UN report on Chinese arms in Darfur. Ten killed in Mindanao bus bombing. Pre-election violence in Guinea rumbles on. Burma bans foreign observers from 7 November poll. All this and more in today’s security update.
The Chinese government has attempted to block a United Nations report which claims that Chinese bullets were used in attacks on UN peacekeepers in Darfur. A spokesman from the Chinese foreign ministry, Ma Zhaoxu, said the report was “based on unconfirmed information and made irresponsible accusations.” The report, researched and written by the UN’s panel of experts on Sudan was discussed in the UN committee that monitors sanctions on Sudan on Wednesday.
The Chinese government has responded angrily to suggestions that bullet casings from twelve different types of bullets manufactured in China were found at various sites in Darfur, including areas in which attacks on peacekeepers took place. Zhao Baogang, a Chinese representative at the UN, described the report as “full of flaws with too many unconfirmed facts.”
While China attempted to prevent the report from being sent to the Security Council for discussion next week, diplomats report that China got no support from other council members. Instead, the chairman agreed to add a letter providing additional information on sources to the report’s annex.
Under the terms of an embargo imposed on Sudan in 2005, foreign companies may legally sell armaments and munitions to the central government in Khartoum, as long as these are not used in Darfur. While China has long maintained that it abides by the terms of the embargo, critics of the sanctions argue that the terms are fundamentally flawed. While the US and UK claim that they would like to expand the resolution to ban the sale of all arms to Sudan, many argue that this would be made impossible by Chinese oppositions.
China is a key ally of government of Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, and has played major role in the development of Sudanese oil industry.
Gulf Times – Asean, UN urged to step up pressure on Myanmar
Philippine activists yesterday urged the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) and the UN to step up pressure on Myanmar to implement democratic reforms ahead of elections next month.
With only 15 days to go before the November 7 multi-party elections in Myanmar, the Free Burma Coalition-Philippines lamented they see “zero democratic integrity” in the scheduled vote.
The coalition noted that despite mounting international criticism, Myanmar’s ruling junta has not shown significant indications that the elections would be free, fair and credible.
“Instead, arbitrary arrests, harassment and continued detention of activists and ordinary people supportive of democracy including journalists are happening right now in Burma,” it added.
In a rally yesterday in Manila as part of the Global Day of Action against the elections, the activists urged Asean and the UN to quickly act to avert a “political disaster.”
“They should go beyond their usual rhetoric of diplomacy and constructive engagement and must do all things necessary to compel the military regime to democratise,” the coalition said.
It noted that with thousands of political detainees languishing in jail, rampant human rights abuses and a military constitution, “it is not so hard to assume that the sole interest of the ruling junta is to maintain its grasp to power.”
The group also urged Asean to support calls for the creation of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity in Myanmar, also called Burma.
Asean leaders were scheduled to hold their annual summit in Vietnam next week, during which they were expected to call for free, fair and inclusive elections in Myanmar. In addition to Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam, the other members of Asean are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Laos and Cambodia.
By SAW YAN NAING – Friday, October 22, 2010
Thailand will repatriate Burmese refugees staying on the Thai-Burmese border only when peace prevails in Burma, said Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
He made the statement on Friday when he visited Mae La refugee camp in Tak Province where some 40,000 Burmese refugees are staying.
Speaking to a camp committee, Kasit said the Thai authorities would not send the refugees back by force, but will only send them back if political situation in Burma gets better after the general elections on Nov. 7.
“We will be repatriated voluntarily when the situation in Burma is secure for us,” a committee member said, adding that they would not be sent back if there was still armed conflict in their home areas.
Kasit denied a previous remark made in the US in September that he is working on a plan to repatriate refugees and Burmese intellectuals to Burma after the elections.
Speaking in the US, Kasit said he would “launch a more comprehensive program for the Burmese people in the camps, the displaced, the intellectuals who run around the streets of Bangkok and Chiang Mai province, to return to Burma after the elections,” adding that the Thai government would also assist the return of the Burmese people.
Mae La refugee camp host refugees mostly ethnic Karen who fled from Burma due to human rights abuses conducted by Burmese government troops in their villages. There are about 150,000 refugees living in nine refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border.
Meeting with 13 Mae La refugee camp committee members and representatives of the Karen Refugee Committee, Kasit listened to reports about the lack of clean water in the camp, the difficulties of health care and food supply.
Traveling in a convoy of about 20 vehicles with heavy security, Kasit along with representatives of nongovernmental organizations including the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, the International Rescue Committee, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees arrived at Mae La camp at 2 p.m and left the camp at 5 p.m.
By KO HTWE Friday, October 22, 2010
A group of ethnic leaders and politicians opposed to the Nov. 7 will meet in Chin State on Sunday and call for a Panglong-like conference to seek national reconciliation.
The meeting will coincide with the 22nd anniversary of the Zomi National Congress.
According to informed sources, the meeting will issue a statement urging “help in building a federal democratic system based on quality and democracy” and calling for a “meeting like the Panglong Convention.”
The Panglong conference was held in the eponymous town in southern Shan State on February 12, 1947, and produced an agreement signed by ethnic Shan, Chin and Kachin leaders and Burma’s independence hero, Gen Aung San, leading to Burma’s independence from Britain.
Aye Thar Aung, chairman of the Arakan League for Democracy, said the 2008 Constitution could not lead to national reconciliation and needed to be reviewed.
“We need to review a new constitution based on the Panglong agreement,” said Aye That Aung, who is also general secretary of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament.
Sai Sheng Murng, deputy spokesman of the Shan State Army-South, supported the call for a Panglong-type conference. He welcomed the decision to meet on Sunday and said if his group had a chance to participate it would study the agenda.
Sources said the statement expected on Sunday would express support for leading members of the National League for Democracy Tin Oo and Win Tin; Pu Cin Sian Thang, chairman of the Zomi National Congress, an ethnic Chin political party; Naing Ngwe Thein of the Mon National Democratic Font, and other Kachin and Shan ethnic leaders and politicians.
Despite leading to Burma’s independence in 1947, ethnic groups represented at the Panglong conference complained that the constitution it produced failed to guarantee equal rights, autonomy and self-determination, as agreed upon at the meeting. It was one of the factors that led many ethnic groups to launch military operations against the central government.
In February 2005, several Shan leaders, including Hkun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), Sai Nyunt Lwin, Sai Hla Aung and Hso Ten were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment after attending a meeting of opposition and ethnic groups in Shan State.
By LAWI WENG Friday, October 22, 2010
The Mon cease-fire group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), released a statement on Oct. 18 requesting people in Burma including ethnic Mon to abstain from voting on Nov. 7.
The NMSP statement said, “All people in Burma need to oppose this election so that we can have a free and fair election in the future. The current election is like the junta referendum that forced the people to vote for the 2008 Constitution, its only purpose being to legitimize the military’s Constitution.
“It is not a genuine constitution for the Union of Burma as it contains only a few democratic and ethnic rights. Its purpose is purely to maintain the military junta’s power and rule for the long term.”
NMSP spokesperson Nai Hong Sar Pon Khaing said, “The main purpose of this statement is to let people know how the party stands on this election and to tell them clearly what the party thinks they should do on Nov. 7.”
The party’s statement said the junta is holding the election to whitewash over the 1990 election result, and that the November poll would not bring national reconciliation, long-term peace or stable development, which is what the people really want.
Nai Hang Thar, the secretary of the NMSP, said the regime is holding this election to legitimize their control and dupe the international community into giving them recognition and support.
The NMSP refused to participate in the election in Burma as the party does not accept the 2008 constitution giving the military 25 percent of the seats in the parliaments, saying it will result in continued military rule and no political change after the election.
Released 15 days before the election, the statement reflects the increased tension between the military junta and the NMSP since the party’s rejection of the junta’s April 2009 border guard force plan and the lack of political progress despite 15 years of cease-fire with the junta.
The All Mon Regions Democratic Party (AMRDP) led by Nai Ngwe Thein, a former assistant director from the Ministry of Education in Mon State, is to run in the election, however, with 34 candidates contesting in seven out of 10 townships in Mon State. The AMRDP predicts they will win a majority votes in Mon State.
With the AMRDP supporting and predicting success in the poll in contrast to exiled Mon and the NMSP who are urging Mon people to boycott it, the Mon people are confused about whether to vote.
“It is wrong telling people not to vote because the absence of opposition will only result in a USDP victory,” said Nai Ngwe Thein as party members nearby distributed Mon songs on CDs to local people encouraging them to vote for his party.
Responding to overseas criticism of the AMRDP’s participation, the party’s leaders said it is time to fight for the rights of the 2 to 3 million ethnic Mon in Burma at the new parliament in Naypyidaw and not criticize from outside the political arena and the country.
“The election will not be free and fair as the junta has banned international monitoring groups from observing the election and ignored calls by the UN and the international community to let all political parties participate in the election,” the NMSP statement said.
Friday, 22 October 2010 22:17 Thomas Maung Shwe
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s recent report to the General Assembly on the situation of human rights in Burma omitted the UN rights envoy to the country’s key recommendation that the UN establish a commission of inquiry “to address the question of international crimes” committed in Burma.
While Ban Ki-moon’s report briefly mentioned that UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana had issued a report in March to the UN Human Rights Council, the secretary general failed to include any discussion of Quintana’s strongly worded conclusion that in Burma there existed a pattern of “gross and systematic” rights abuses which suggest that the abuses were a state policy that involved authorities at all levels of the executive, military and judiciary.
Ban’s report also omitted Quintana’s words that in Burma the “possibility exists that some of these human rights violations may entail categories of crimes against humanity or war crimes under the terms of the Statute of the International Criminal Court [known as the Rome Statute]”.
Democracy activist appalled by Ban’s omission
The decision by Ban and his staff to significantly downplay Quintana’s observations and ignore the special rapporteur’s recommendations does not sit well with many Burma opposition figures and democracy activists.
Mark Farmaner of the Burma Campaign UK told Mizzima that “for the secretary general to ignore the advice and the evidence presented by the UN’s own Burma expert is deeply worrying. The UN can’t claim ignorance to what is going on in Burma. The report of the special rapporteur and the report of the secretary general present significantly different pictures of the same country”.
Ban’s report also ignored Kokang fighting
Ban’s report also failed to mention the Burmese regime’s assault on the Kokang region in August-September last year, which forced 37,000 refugees into China and included well-documented instances of military attacks on civilians.
His failure to mention the rights situation in the Kokang region came despite the fact that part of the regime’s offensive occurred during the period the report is supposed to cover, from August last year to August this year. The report also failed to mention the Burmese Army’s documented killings of civilians in Karen State, instead Ban made the rather optimistic observation that “the past 15 years have seen a significant reduction in the overall level of conflict in Myanmar [Burma]”.
Ban also claimed that the release of a relatively small number of political prisoners in September last year was evidence that “there have been some signs of flexibility from the Myanmar [Burmese] authorities in response to my proposals”.
Farmaner saw things quite differently. “Once again the secretary general has downplayed the seriousness of human rights violations in Burma, while at the same time exaggerating small positives.”
He said Ban in his report “gives great attention to the release of a small percentage of political prisoners following his visit to Burma, while ignoring the fact that the number of political prisoners has barely changed, as the generals continued to arrest and jail political activists during this time”.
Quintana avoids criticising Ban
In an interview with New York-based Inner City Press on Thursday, Quintana acknowledged that Ban’s report failed to include his recommendations for a commission of inquiry. When pressed by the New York agency’s accredited UN correspondent, Matthew Russell Lee, to assess Ban’s handling of the human rights situation in Burma, Quintana responded: “you cannot ask me to tell him what to do”.
By DAN WITHERS
Published: 22 October 2010
As calls for Than Shwe to be indicted for war crimes gather momentum, DVB speaks to exiled Burmese lawyer, Aung Htoo, who heads the Burma Lawyers’ Council. He claims that China’s rise as an international player may indeed be detrimental to the ruling junta, as it works to maintain its dignity and ‘abstain’ if the issue reaches the UN Security Council.
Why is a UN probe into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma necessary?
In addition to reports issued by the international human rights organizations such as the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Amnesty International (AI), the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and others, the reports of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Situation in Burma, Tomas Quintana, have indicated that human rights violations in Burma are likely crimes against humanity and/or war crimes. It has become the responsibility of the society – national and international alike – to address those heinous crimes in appropriate ways. If not, justice for victims of crimes will have been perpetually denied, repeated commission of such heinous crimes in near future would not be deterred, the rule of law will never prevail, and, as a result, the rule of the military dictatorship will have been entrenched and a peaceful democratic transition for Burma only a myth.
How will Burma benefit from such an inquiry?
If the UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) can operate well inside Burma, the truth will be uncovered; prevailing impunity in Burma will have been denied to some extent; society may find ways to address the sufferings of the victims of heinous crimes; peaceful movements of grassroots people who are seeking justice will be strengthened; pressure on the ruling military regime from the national and international community to transform society may notably increase; the internal conflicts within the ruling military regime might be exacerbated; and as a result, it may lead to reformation of security forces such as army, police and intelligent organizations and justice mechanism, including the judiciary. And finally, legal action might be taken on the perpetrators of heinous crimes by the International Criminal Court and a genuine democratic transition for Burma may become a reality.
Wouldn’t China, which has a seat on the UN Security Council, block moves to hold the inquiry?
In today’s world, the rule of law has become a convergence of diverse concepts, adopted by both Western and Eastern societies: one focuses on individual freedoms whereas another seeks the collective value of society, despite the existence of mixed practices in many countries. It is proven that since 1980 China has focused on the importance of the rule of law despite the fact that it may hesitate to recognize “democracy”. The commission of heinous crimes in Burma is directly relevant to the issue arising due to the lack of the rule of law. In addition, under the Chapter of Fundamental Rights, Article 33 of the Constitution of China stipulates: “The State respects and preserves human rights.” This is time for the international community to persuade China to deal with the issues of Burma from the aspect of the rule of law and human rights.
It is also expected that as China has become an international actor, it may attempt to maintain its dignity and may not protect the perpetrators of heinous crimes in Burma, turning a blind eye under whatever circumstances. If the majority of the international community consistently highlights the situation of Burma from the aspect of commission of heinous crimes, China may exercise similar practice by taking a position of ‘abstention’ if there is a motion in the UN Security Council, as was the case for Sudan.
How could a CoI result in perpetrators of such crimes being held accountable at the International Criminal Court?
It will depend on the finding of the COI. If its report is comprehensive enough and if there are prima facie to prosecute perpetrators, the UN Security Council may refer the situation of Burma to ICC.
What are the chances of a conviction?
It will be relevant only to the efforts of the ICC prosecutor as well as merits of the case. However, it is noteworthy that the ICC Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo is quite active in exerting efforts for ending impunity across the world and is also ardent to address the impunity issue in Burma.
Under the Coalition of the International Criminal Court (CICC)’s initiation, the representatives of civil society organisations from the states that founded the ICC held a meeting with the Moreno-Ocampo at the World Forum Conference Centre at the African Meeting Hall on 23 November 2009. He responded to my question with full interest, stating that he cannot initiate investigations proprio motu [‘by one’s own volition’] because Burma has not ratified the Rome Statute as of yet; as well, because the UN Security Council has not yet referred the situation of Burma to the ICC.
He did however explain in detail the conditions that might allow initiation of investigations proprio motu : most importantly, there can be conditions that will allow the Chief Prosecutor to initiate investigations proprio motu if he can obtain evidence brought forward against a citizen or citizens that belong to one of the 110 states that have signed and ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which prove that that citizen has conspired with and abetted the junta, which itself has committed international crimes.
There is no doubt that if ICC Prosecutor receives a comprehensive report from CoI, he and his good office will attempt to prosecute perpetrators of heinous crimes in Burma.
If the CoI recommended prosecution of members of the Burmese government, couldn’t they just ignore an arrest warrant as did Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir?
To answer your question, I have four points:
1. Al-Bashir has not been arrested due to the protection of the African Union and the Arab League; in Asia there is no regional organisation that will protect Senior General Than Shwe. I do not believe that ASEAN will protect him. Nor do I presume that even China will give him protection if the crimes in Burma continue to become increasingly explicit. Even the October 2009 UN General Assembly Resolution began to call on the military regime “to take urgent measures to put an end to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law”.
2. In Burma there is the charismatic national leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is well-known around the world; there is the National League for Democracy, the party that influences the whole nation of Burma; and there are the 1990 election results. In addition, currently almost all major ethnic armed resistance organizations – ceasefire as well as non-ceasefires – stand against the rule of the military dictatorship. These conditions do not exist in Sudan. Arrest warrant against Senior General Than Shwe, and other former generals such as Shwe Mann, Thein Sein and Tin Aung Myint Oo, who were deeply involved in the commission of heinous crimes, will effectively encourage the democratic movement inside Burma and across world and the struggle of the ethnic people and organizations to establish a democratic federal union for Burma.
3. The forthcoming 2010 election in Burma is the result of efforts of the military dictators to achieve legitimacy to rule the country indefinitely in accordance with the 2008 constitution. Arrest warrants against those top generals who have turned into civilians and who will take high political positions after the 2010 election will seriously damage their dream for achieving legitimacy under the rule of the military dictatorship.
4. In addition to Korea and Japan, Bangladesh also became a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC in 2010. As an immediate neighbour of Burma, Bangladesh is accountable to arrest the military leaders. Thailand, which is another immediate neighbour of Burma, may support the efforts of the international community to implement the arrest warrant, issued by ICC with a low profile, so long as Thailand is under the leadership of democratic party led by incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit. The regional situation existing for Burma is different from Sudan.
Could the money to be spent on an inquiry be better used elsewhere?
It will depend on the decision of relevant parties, national and international alike.
Does Than Shwe fear a CoI?
He does. Let me share my experience. The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) conducted the biggest seminar on Burma of those held in Bangkok entitled “Advancing Human Rights and Ending Impunity in Burma” on 4-6 May 2009, with the participation of over 70 organizations from around the world.
During the seminar period, the military regime issued an arrest warrant against me and, conspiring with Thai police, sent its military intelligence working in the Burmese embassy in Bangkok to where the seminar was being held. Then it attempted to kidnap me, even in the presence of the international community and human rights organizations. Immediately after the seminar, I had to hide in Bangkok for three weeks. Then, with the assistance of FIDH, Thai human rights lawyers, a local human rights NGO in Bangkok, the Swedish embassy and Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs, my family and I were able to leave Bangkok for Sweden on 23 May 2009, safe and sound.
By MIN LWIN
Published: 22 October 2010
As the rooftop landscape of Burma changed yesterday with the hoisting of a new flag, critics of the junta have said that the country’s identity change came too early.
According to opposition politicians, Burmese law states that the 2008 constitution must come into force before any new flag is raised. This shouldn’t happen until after the controversial 7 November elections.
Nay Myo Wei, general secretary of the Diversity and Peace Party (DPP), which is running in the polls, said that the junta had exploited a legal loophole to make it appear as if it had complied with the law.
“This is very controversial so it shouldn’t be carried out by either the government leaders nor the political leaders [competing in the elections],” he said.
The criticism was echoed by Thein Oo, chairman of the exiled Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC), who claimed that the junta was “already abusing and violating the constitution even before it has started, and this is definitely not a good sign for Burma in the future”.
A government announcement yesterday said however that it was part of “preparatory work to bring the Constitution into operation”.
One civil servant who attended the ceremony in the capital, Naypyidaw, said that every government ministry was ordered to hold the flag-changing ceremony at 3pm concurrently.
While the star on the new flag is meant to signify ”the perpetual existence of the consolidated Union’, observers claim it is the stamp of the army. The green officially represents peace, yellow solidarity, and red valour.
A name change was also implemented as flags were raised across the country. It is now officially known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, where previously it was just the Union of Myanmar.
The country’s pro-democracy movement, as well as a number of Western governments, continue however to call it Burma – the name given to the country by the British. Prior to the start of colonial rule, it was variously called Birmah, Bermah and Brama.
The generals have promised a transition to civilian governance following the elections, but critics say the polls are merely a cosmetic lift, with military rule set to continue.